Ectoplasmic Secrets
by Aquariuss
Summary: What if Danny was alone during the accident? What if he never told anyone the truth? What if there is something bigger happening here? -Series of oneshots- Nobody Knows AU. Read inside for full summary and table of contents. T for mild gore in certain chpts. REWRITE NOW GOING UP! (Latest updated/edited: Chapter 10 - Trio ) (Last active on: 5-16-19)
1. Table of Contents

**Table of Contents**

Hello! This story is going to just be a collection of one shots I have planned. For the most part they will all go in chronological order. Every story here is a part of a bigger, Alternate Universe I am creating based on if Danny was alone during the accident and never actually told anyone about it. There are other variations, however that is probably the biggest one. Some of the other variations include:

Some villains from the show are not the villains here.

Ghosts have been invading Amity Park since long before the Fenton Portal.

The GIW are a branch of government security and not some incompetent fools.

The world is well aware of the existence of ghosts and Amity is _not_ the _only_ place that sees these spectral beings.

Ghost hunters take their jobs seriously here.

Overall a darker theme than the show is in reality.

Etc. etc. etc.

These one shots are being made and posted solely as a source of background information for a much bigger story coming soon.

Enjoy!

Updates every chance I get, most likely every few days or at most once a week!

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 ***** means this chapter was inserted after this list was originally posted

 **( )** means these chapters are combined

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 **Table of Contents**

1\. Welcome to the World

2\. That's My Baby Boy

3\. Take the Shot

4\. The Rebel Inside

5\. BFF

6\. Contracted

 **(** 7\. Noisy

 **)** 7\. Tag

8\. A New Path

9\. Wild Ride

10\. Trio

11\. Our Very Reliable Double Agent

12\. Meet My Crazy Family

13\. Summer's Nearing End

14\. Foreboding Feelings

 **(** 15\. Teatime for Scientists and Doctors Alike

 **)** 15\. Proud Inventors, Try Again Later

 **(** 16\. The Voice in the Basement

 **)** 16\. Trip to Death

17\. Origin of a Halfa

 **(** 18\. What in Ectology

 **)** 18\. What's Wrong With Me?

19\. Help, I'm Surrounded by Ghost Hunters

20\. The Story of Jeremy Smithsdaily

21\. Becoming

 **(** 22\. The First Sighting

 **)** 22\. The Dark Dynasty

 ***** 23\. First Encounter

 ***** 24\. Valerie the Ghost Slayer

 **(** 25\. Evolution

 **)*** 25\. Flaming Defeat

 ***** 26\. Freakshow

27\. The Prophet

28\. Doctor, Doctor

 **(** 29\. I'm Illegally Living

 **)** 29\. When Miss Goody Two Shoes Broke The Law

 **(** 30\. Household Tensions

 **)** 30\. Taking A Stand

31\. Split

32\. Can't Ignore a Call for Help

 **(** 33\. Greg

 **)** 34\. Protecting Our Students

 **(** 35\. In Too Deep

 **)** 36\. Just Getting the Mail

 ***** 37\. The Best Christmas Ever

 ***** 38\. Gray Revelations

39\. First Date

 **(** 40\. The Scar Worth a Thousand Apologies

 **)** 40\. Blame

 ***** 41\. Beneath Her Glove

 ***** 42\. An Act of Kindness

 ***** 43\. Leave the Nerds Alone

 ***** 44\. Conflicted

 ***** 45\. Chief

 ***** 46\. Awkward Dinner

 ***** 47\. Escapee

 ***** 48\. Fracturing Friends

 ***** 49\. Seed of Doubt

 ***** 50\. The Enemy of My Enemy

TBA!

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 **Last edited: 9-18-17**


	2. 1) Welcome to the World

Chapter 1

 **Welcome to the World**

 _Summary: Clockwork always knew what would be in store for one Daniel Fenton_

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In the depths of the Infinite Realms, better known as the Ghost Zone, there stood a large fortress that looked oddly like a grand clock tower. Gears ranging in vast variety of shapes and sizes lined every wall and somehow, they all worked together, to do what exactly remained mysterious. Not many ghosts were seen around the area outside of the tower, for many lesser ghosts thought the one who lived there to be only a legend.

Inside the massive clock tower, it was kept extremely dark. The only real source of light was whatever was cast by the multitude of screens located on every wall. The screens were continuously shifting, throwing light and shadow all around the space. They all displayed scenes of events taking place, whether they were from the past, present, or even the future. Some displayed images of common families, some had celebrities, some showed battles from wars of both the past and future.

However, the only screen that could hold the Time Master's attention at the time, was one of a tiny, red faced baby being held in an exhausted looking mother's arms. A man stood by the woman's side looking prouder than ever, while holding in his arms a two-year-old girl who had beautiful strawberry colored hair, just like her mother.

The Time Master gazed upon that screen for some time as a small smile graced his currently aging features. Of course, if any being ever accused him of such an action he would vehemently deny it, just as he would if he were ever criticized for taking the Alliance's side. Being the Master of All Time usually meant two things, he knew _everything_ , and he didn't, or shouldn't, have the ability to take sides in certain matters. Or at least, that's how the Observants would put it. But Clockwork was never one to follow those one-eyed dimwits' ridiculous rules.

Looking back to the screen Clockwork knew he wasn't the only ghost to know of this event. In truth, most of the Alliance knew this day was special, seeing as how most of their rebellion was built around a prophecy.

The father on the screen now had tears of joy in his eyes for his new born son. Two proud parents gave a knowing look to each other that exchanged a thousand emotions. The mother then turned to the nurse and gave the baby's name.

Clockwork's smile grew wider still as he whispered his next words with more meaning than could ever be described. He knew the child he observed had many paths written in the time stream, some of them with wonderful futures, some with nothing but a world burnt to the crisp. Clockwork, however, was hopeful. There were only ever two constants in all of time and across every alternative universe, after all. So, Clockwork knew one thing for sure would still happen, he only hoped that in the time after, all of the right moves were made, and that meant by everyone, for everyone had a role to play.

"Welcome to the world Daniel" the Master of Time said to the screen. Now he would just have to wait and see how everything played out.

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 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **Well that was the first segment! How are you guys liking it so far? Reviews much appreciated! And I do reply! See ya soon! :)**


	3. 2) That's My Baby Boy!

Chapter 2

 **That's My Baby Boy!**

 _Summary: Ember McLain takes a trip to Amity Park and gets more than she's asked for._

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It was past one in the morning when Ember McLain happened upon the sight of a portal opening. Of course, most habitants of the Infinite Realms had by now agreed to use Central Time, the same as they have in Amity Park. It did make sense logically seeing as how the town had become the "Ghost Capital of the World" or _whatever the hell those people are calling it now_ , Ember thought. The ghost took a quick glance around and poked her head through the portal.

The other side of the portal opened in an intersection with not a car nor civilian in sight, it seemed like just a random town. The place reminded Ember a bit of her old home town, the thought of which left a bitter taste in her mouth. However, it only took a couple seconds, and two flying ectopuses, to realize that this was in fact the infamous Amity Park.

With a shrug Ember stepped the rest of the way through the portal, carrying her plain purple, electric guitar on her back for the time being. She stood, tapping the toe of her metal boot on the solid concrete sidewalk.

If there was anything Ember had learned the past year after she'd died it was that the afterlife was boring as hell. _Well,_ she thought, _if it could even be called an AFTERlife. It's more like a second life or something_. If she were being honest with herself, she'd say she couldn't understand in the slightest what she had become. What it actually meant to be a ghost…Had she been asked what a ghost was when she was still human and alive, well she would've said it was and evil, vengeful spirit of a person who'd died, totally intent on wreaking havoc. Now though…she couldn't understand. She didn't feel the need for vengeance, her death had been her own fault. She knew the word evil didn't exactly fit her, rebellious and reckless maybe, but not evil. The most chaos she had ever created was back in her teenage years, which if she was being totally honest with herself, she hadn't completely grown out of, physically, yes, but not really mentally. So, if she hadn't been right about ghosts before, then _what are they really? What are WE really?_

Shaking herself from her stupor, Ember took to the skies, vaguely aware that she should look out for the assortment of ghost hunters this town had to offer. For some reason she wasn't that worried though, as she frankly felt pretty invincible in that moment.

After a bit of wandering aimlessly the ghost's eyes fell upon a begrudgingly familiar face, the hunter, who had on multiple occasions tried to make conversation with Ember.

She paused midair for a moment before deciding to try and avoid the hunter's ghost. Apparently, it was a pointless idea however, when something started beeping from his mechanical suit _...body? Whatever the hell it was._

The hunter immediately turned around to face the pop singer's ghost. Skulker visibly startled when he realized who it was, almost dropping whatever device he had been tinkering with. "Ember! I, well I was just running an errand for my employer. Always busy these days, you know, being the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter and all."

Ember almost scoffed at his ego, and that was saying something for a pop star who's only original song is about herself. "Oh, well if you're so busy I guess I'll be on my way now."

Skulker stood for a moment before his mechanical eyes widened just a smidgen, "Wait, no! I mean, I am very busy, but I'll always have time for you."

Ember's eyes narrowed, " _That_ was about the cheesiest pickup line I have _ever_ heard."

"My apologies, but it is true that-"

"Listen tin can. I am not looking for any significant other right now so you might as well stop. Ok? I'm going now and _don't_ follow me, like I know you've done before." With that Ember flew off once again into the night sky of Amity Park, not even bothering to see his reaction. _That was a little harsher than I needed to be, she thought, but he seriously does need to stop._

Suddenly something in the distance caught Ember's eye. It was a strangely bright light coming from a residential area, seemingly orange and maybe green? She was still trying to figure out how colors actually worked now. Ever since she'd been formed as a ghost, nothing looked like the color she knew it should be. She looked at those bright lights for a moment, and knew she'd had nothing better to do. With a shrug of her shoulders she flew towards the light.

When she came into viewing distance she read the sign on the oddly shaped house and groaned. _FentonWorks, of course_. The couple that lived there had quite the reputation in the Ghost Zone, mostly known for how high end all their equipment is. The ghosts all knew that the Fentons weren't that great at actually catching any ghosts, but if they did, may the lord have mercy on their soul. There were rumors floating around in the Zone that once the ghost of a little girl got caught by them and no one ever saw her again. Some ghosts even said that the ones who were in Amity at the time could hear her screams. Although Ember didn't really believe that last one. She suddenly wondered how she knew all of this, when she herself had only become a ghost about a year ago. _Guess I was really just searching for a social life,_ she figured, remembering all the times she had tried to find other ghosts like herself to talk to. _And that worked out just swell didn't it?_

Now if Ember were anything but reckless, she would've turned the other way and never looked back at that house. But that wasn't the case. She had the urge to know what all the fuss was about, maybe even go back and be able to tell some of the very few...acquaintances she had made what was _really_ going on inside there. Plus, it would probably make her seem really cool if she had actually gone into some famous ghost hunters' house and made it out without a scratch. She made up her mind and flew in for a closer look.

Now, Ember wasn't stupid so she _did_ keep herself invisible and most of the time intangible as well. Once she got inside she was honestly a little surprised no alarms were signaled just by her presence in the house.

 _This looks surprisingly like a normal house,_ she thought, looking around a bit. A kitchen, a living room with cozy looking sofas, that she was almost tempted to lay back and take a nap on, and some stairs leading to a second story. Everything was normal except one thing. A door with heavy locks on it and bold warnings painted all over it. Floating over to the door she tried to phase through it, if only to get a peek, but was quickly forced back to tangibility _. Of course they would've made their whole lab, or whatever, ghost proof._

Ember would have continued her attempts to get into that lab if it hadn't been for the noise she suddenly heard coming from upstairs. She hadn't heard such a thing in quite some time, so obviously, she had to find where it was coming from. Floating up the stairs she came upon a door cracked open with that horrid noise coming from inside.

When she entered the dark room, she found a nightlight projecting little blue stars all over the ceiling, giving just enough light to see what was in the room. Just as she had expected, she found a crib hosting a tiny, squirming human baby that looked to be just a month, maybe two months old, she didn't really know enough about babies to be sure.

The baby was whining as Ember let down her invisibility. She had never really liked young kids that much back when she was alive, but this child was just a bit too adorable for her _not_ to smile. Ember reached her ghostly hand out and the baby suddenly held quite an interest in her pinky finger. She even surprised herself when she found she was laughing quietly as the baby attempted to bite her finger.

Ember unexpectedly remembered an old lullaby she had heard years ago and began humming it softly to the baby, which at this point had calmed down and was almost falling back asleep.

Of course, later she would regret not paying more attention to her surroundings as the door to the baby's room suddenly swung open. She'd looked up with a startled look upon her face when the door made a loud banging noise, just in time to see a woman with short red hair, looking to be in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, picking up a metallic looking object from the dresser by the doorway. The woman pointed the object at her and- _oh, wow, that's a gun._

"Get away from my son, spectral _freak!"_

Ember was in a daze and didn't move fast enough, prompting the woman to fire her weapon and _\- oh, wow, that's an ECTOgun._

She'd tried to block the blast but all she had managed was to get her right arm burnt as it felt like acid was eating away at it. A noise to her left caught half of her attention. The baby was crying louder than ever now. Despite that fact, the shot had definitely gotten it's point across to Ember because the next moment she fled the house, never looking back.

As she clutched her injured arm close to her chest she made one very important note to self:

 _Stay away from the Fentons._

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 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **My apologies the last chapter was so incredibly short, but this is more like the length coming chapters will be. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you have time and I'll be happy to reply!**


	4. 3) Take the Shot

Chapter 3

 **Take the Shot**

 _Summary: Skulker was sent by his employer to Amity Park to do one thing, but for the first time he finds himself questioning his morals. After all, this isn't exactly fair game…_

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Skulker was hardly fazed by Ember's harsh words, in fact, one thing he loved about her was how independent and strong willed she could be. She was stubborn, carefree, and reckless, and he really liked her for that. One thing she'd said, however, stood out to Skulker and left him feeling like there was a thorn stuck in his core. Ember called him "tin can". He knew it shouldn't mean so much to him, but it hit him in his only soft spot. His form.

Skulker had sustained injuries, one after another from years of hunting, and eventually it took its toll. His ectoplasmic form had begun to destabilize, and by the time he'd gotten help there was little left of him. During that time his rescuer had come in the form of a middle-aged doctor/scientist ghost named Richard Benson. He was about the best the Ghost Zone had to offer when it came to ghosts' health and wellbeing. The Doctor had given him a permanent stabilizer, but the damage that had already been inflicted couldn't be undone. He was left as a puny blob of ectoplasm, lucky to still even have all of his limbs intact.

Skulker had been devastated. He went for three months not even thinking about his hunting career, that is, until one of his old ideas that had been stashed away for safekeeping suddenly came back to him.

Years earlier, Skulker had this idea, to use armor with built in weapons, sensors, computers, etc. to improve his own strengths. _Now though…_ Skulker had thought, _I could build a whole new body for myself. All my artillery can be stored in the suit and all I'll have to do is operate the main controls._ It was his best shot at ever getting back to hunting. He had spent the next two months devoting all his time into building his new suit, and the next three learning how to use it properly. He had constructed it to look almost exactly like his true form, the only difference was that it was made out of metal parts and not just ectoplasm and his core. Those following years Skulker had worked his way back to the top, gaining fame and fortune every passing hour.

But then he saw Her. She was beautiful, she could hold her own in a fight, she stuck by her own opinions. She was tough. Ember was everything he'd ever looked for in a woman. _But what fool would ever care for a decayed little blob of ectoplasm_?

That's why when he'd been offered this job, Skulker had taken it up without second thought. His employer guaranteed him his rewarded would be something no other being could have given him. The chance to have his true form back. At first Skulker hadn't believed them, but they had shown him what they could do. The had granted his his true form, but it was only for a moment. That one moment however may have quite possibly been one of the best of his afterlife. It made him realize just how much he had lost too, and when it was taken away, he realized he'd do anything to get it back, only the next time it would be permanent.

So that is how Skulker had found himself in Amity Park. His prey was close. The sensors in his suit told him he would find it in this quite weird looking house. He turned off his engine boosters and relied temporarily on what little ectoplasmic power he held to keep himself and his suit invisible and in the air. Flying slowly around the house, he checked every window. He just needed to find…

Then he saw her. Ember. She was inside the house, in a bedroom on the top story, playing and laughing with…Skulker's prey. She hummed a little tune to the human whelp with her magnificent voice. His mind began to overload with questions and possibilities, and Skulker fled before she could notice she was there and yell disapprovingly at him again. He flew away, all the way until he reached a small lake at a park, choosing to rest there on the grass.

The full moon was out, reflecting in the water, but Skulker didn't notice or care about those things right now. _Why was she with that human child? Does she not know that was the home of a family of ghost hunters? Does she know the child?_ He was so confused and had no idea what to make of the situation. _I may have never been all that religious of a man,_ he thought, _but was this supposed to be a sign? Is she meant to protect that human baby from myself? From my employer? Why do they want this child to be killed in the first place? And why hadn't I thought about this before? I'm a hunter, I'm supposed to take everything into account when on a hunt like this, but I hadn't thought… I only thought about her…_ he realized then that after what he'd seen, she surely wouldn't approve of him just going into the room and killing the thing.

He took a break from thinking to let the race of his core slow again. _I have never been employed for a hunt like this either. All hunts I have gone on in the past were fair game…_

Skulker waited a good half hour before returning to the window again. The only being left in the room now was the human whelp. As he entered the room, making not one sound, he looked long and hard at the puny being.

It was in that moment that he realized he did in fact have standards and morals. He was an honest hunter, and only hunted what was fair game.

Looking at the large gun popping out of the arm on his suit, then back at the now sleeping pile of flesh, he'd made up his mind.

This was not fair game.

So Skulker returned to his employer and did something he didn't do too often. He lied. He had told the ever so intimidating dark figure in front of him that the Fenton's youngest child was dead and would not be returning.

The wicked laughter erupting from his employer sent shivers through his core.

The entity in front of him had somehow believed Skulker and granted him his reward. Skulker soon found himself exiting the dark and dreary castle, feeling like a new man. He had gotten his true form back, after all.

And it was not as if that creepy bastard would ever find out the truth…

 _Besides, it's just an average human, probably destined for an average life. What could possibly happen?_

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 **AN: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **Yeah…a lot of things could happen Skulker…**

 **So yeah, I really liked writing this chapter! I always enjoy thinking of ulterior motives for Skulker, so that was fun. I based the whole Skulker x Ember thing off the episode Girls Night Out lol.**

 **Also, thank you TenzinGaga for your very short but sweet review :)**

 **See ya next time and please review if you have time!**


	5. 4) The Rebel Inside

Chapter 4

 **The Rebel Inside**

 _Summary: While getting treatment for her injured arm, Ember finds herself being pulled into something bigger than she'd ever imagined._

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Ember held her arm tightly against her chest as ectoplasm dripped all the way down her leg. It was true that ghosts couldn't feel as much pain as humans, keywords being _as much_. Her arm felt like _hell_ to put it simply. She had just managed to stumble her way through a portal and back into the Ghost Zone and much to her relief, found that that specific portal had opened near her lair. If she was near _her_ door, then she was near her crazy neighbor's door as well.

Yeah, Ember had just been _oh so pleased_ when she had found out the door to her lair was exceptionally close to the most well know doctor in the Ghost Zone. _Note the sarcasm. That guy was a nutcase_.

In that moment, Ember realized she was extremely grateful that the man had forced some friendly, neighborly conversations on her from time to time. Speeding up to his door, which was covered by at least fifteen locks, she knocked as loudly as possible with her left hand. It took the doctor a good minute or two to get to the door and open his vast variety of locks.

The man took one look at Ember and quickly ushered her inside, prompting her to take a seat while he collected the medical supplies he would be needing. Once she was sitting down stiffly and awkwardly on the couch, Ember took the liberty to look around her neighbor's lair. It reminded her a little of the Fenton's home that she had just left, except the lab and the family areas were all jumbled together and everything was a chaotic mess. There was a fridge, but pinned all over the front of it were x-rays, graphs, data sheets, you name it. There was a lamp and a coffee table, but static electricity was flaring off the lamp and the coffee table was covered in files and beakers.

Looking at the covers of some of the file folders located on the coffee table near her, Ember found that most of them had the same insignia printed on them. It was circular, with six sections, alternating white and black. Focusing just on the lines between the sections, she thought the symbol looked almost like a capital 'A'.

She was shaken from her thought train when the doctor returned, carrying a relatively small briefcase in his hands. He sat down in front of her and opened his case on the coffee table, placing it on top of some papers that had been sitting there in the open. The doctor went to work on Ember's arm wordlessly, making it just a bit awkward for Ember. It wasn't until he was wrapping a bandage around her forearm that he spoke in his British accent.

"Might I inquire what happened to cause your arm to be in such a state?"

Ember sighed, wincing when the bandage pressed painfully on her injury. Thinking back, she realized how embarrassing it was. She'd literally waltzed right into the house of some world-renowned ghost hunters and let her guard almost completely down. Still, that woman hadn't even bothered to ask questions, she had just shot first asked questions never. It should've been obvious to her that she wasn't doing anything to hurt the baby, but all she saw was a ghost and thus a threat.

"It was those damn Fentons-ow!" Ember yelped as his hand suddenly jerked, upsetting the wound again. The doctor's eyes widened, "My apologies, that was my bad, it was just- w-why- how were you involved with the Fentons?" he asked not so inconspicuously, while trying to be discreet as he pushed some papers on the table out of view.

"I was just bored and happened to be in Amity Park. What's it to you?"

"Oh it- it's nothing..." he said as he continued to finish wrapping the bandage.

"Hey, did you know they have a kid now?"

The Doc's hand jerked again but luckily not enough to cause Ember much more pain, because otherwise she would've just finished covering it herself and walked out the door.

"Wh-who? Oh, the Fentons? Yes, I- I think I may have heard that...somewhere. Or maybe not. I might have heard it was their second child, actually. If I'm not mistaken. But I could be wrong, in fact I probably am. I mean, why-why would I know anything about some hunter's family?"

Ok, now something was seriously up and Ember wanted in on this whole thing. "Ok, what's going on?" The doctor sighed and told Ember it was something he wasn't supposed to talk about. Ember accepted it, but in the back of her mind she was still curious. "Hey, what's your name again?" The doctor chuckled a bit before Ember continued, "It's just, all I really know you by is 'Doctor'." He'd nodded in understanding, "Don't worry, that's all I usually go by anyways. But it's Richard, Richard Benson."

He finished treating Ember's wounded arm by putting a little clip to secure the bandage, "Just let that heal for a week or two and you should be good as new. Although there's probably going to be a scar there. Ectoplasm might be able to work wonders but it can't heal everything." Ember shrugged, not like she really cared about a scar. She had other ones back from when she was in with a rowdy group of friends during high school. "Thanks a lot Doc," she said, floating up, "I owe you anything?" Richard looked confused for a second, "No, no of course not. I'm just here to help."

Ember nodded gratefully and started towards the door, "I should get going." Richard saw her to the door, but just before she turned to leave, he asked her something that would go on to change the direction of her entire afterlife.

"Have you ever heard of the Alliance by any chance?"

Ember quirked an eyebrow, "Just some rumors. Most people say they're running on some false hope." Richard seemed to find that statement amusing, "Maybe so, maybe so." Thinking for a moment he continued, "Most people might indeed say that. But what do _you_ say?"

Ember didn't understand what her neighbor was trying to prove so she just answered honestly. "Well, I don't know what this _'Alliance'_ is all about, but I think where there's a will there's a way." Richard nodded and no more was said as Ember floated outside, heading towards her own door with her plain purple electric guitar slung over her shoulder to rest on her back.

"You should look into it, you know." Richard half yelled from his doorway, "You seem like the type. The afterlife can get boring, after all, without something to keep you busy."

Ember turned around and looked at the middle-aged doctor standing under the arch of the purple doorframe. He had green tinged skin and eyes with a scruffy, yet friendly look. His long white lab coat looked worn and had multiple stains, rips, and even scorch marks. He may seem so to most, but Ember realized her neighbor wasn't so crazy after all. And he was right. The afterlife could get _very_ boring. _Maybe, just maybe…this 'Alliance' could be just what she needed…_

That's how one week later Ember found herself knocking on her neighbor's door repeatedly and impatiently. When he came to the door he only seemed slightly surprised. "I want to know more about the Alliance."

 _Maybe, just maybe…their hopes weren't as false as most ghosts had thought._

Besides, she was bored. _And what better way to occupy your time than by rebelling against the dictator that was Pariah's son?_

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 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **I love writing these seemingly/canon-wise villainous characters into something deeper and more elaborate. XD Up next will be a bit of a young Danny and Tucker, and following that will be how the Fenton parents got involved with the GIW.**

 **To the guest who reviewed on the last chapter, thank you! I'm glad you like it!**

 **See ya soon and please review if you find the time! :)**


	6. 5) BFF

Here's just some replies to the three people who reviewed on the last chapter :) Scroll down for chapter 5!

 **MonsterousThings:** Yeah, that was a little bit of a cliffy, sorry 'bout that XD But thank you!

 **Boopy:** Me too! (hence why I'm writing this one lol) but don't you worry, I'm no fan of a tragic ending either ;) I DEFINEITLY understand where you're coming from on the discontinued stories issue, but please know that after reading one too many of those myself, I am more determined than ever to NEVER allow that to happen with this story. I plan on keeping updates regular and hopefully never going longer than a week without an update. :) Also, thank you for the advice! Since these are technically all one shots that just exist in the same universe, I'm going to just keep the chapter lengths however long or short I feel the particular story need to be told, but thanks for the input! I know the past few have been very closely linked and could just work as chapters within a continuous story, but not all are going to be like that. Wow, this was a long reply XD Thank you so much for your review!

 **Guest:** Thanks! I'm really glad you like it! :)

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Chapter 5

 **BFF**

 _Summary: Maddie and Angela take their children to their first day of school._

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It was a beautiful August morning in Amity Park, with the temperature just right and a relaxing breeze blowing past. At least, that's how most of the parents saw it. To most of the children however, it was a tragic day called "the first day of school". Young Jasmine Fenton was one of the few children who didn't fit the stereotype, as she rather enjoyed being at school and was glad to get to go back. It was her first day of second grade and she was more than excited to start the day. The same could not be said about her younger brother, who had put up a _big_ fuss over having to wake up so early in the morning. It had ended up taking a good twenty minutes out of Maddie's morning routine just to get Danny awake and dressed.

When the two of them had finally made it downstairs, Maddie found her little girl already at the kitchen table munching on some cereal that Jack must have gotten for her. Her little pink backpack was zipped up and sitting by her feet, accompanied by her matching lunchbox. Reddish orange hair was neatly combed and pulled out of her face with a headband.

 _At least one of them is an early riser._

"Good morning Mom. Good morning Danny." Her brother mumbled some incoherent six-year-old nonsense while Maddie smiled warmly, "Good morning Jazz, sweetie. I see daddy got you some breakfast, what did he give you?" Jazz spooned some cereal to show her, "Fruitloops!"

Maddie gasped overdramatically "Fruitloops! Those are you favorite, aren't they?" Jazz nodded enthusiastically. Maddie then turned to her six-year-old, "What about you Danny? Would you like some Fruitloops as well?" He pouted, "Nuh-uh! Fruitloops gross, I don't like them!"

"Are you sure, sweetie? You only had them one time. Maybe if you try them again you'll like them!" Maddie's tactic didn't work, she realized as Danny continued to shake his head in refusal. "Alright, then what would you like for breakfast, Danny?"

"Cheerios! With milk please."

Maddie smiled, "Ok, one bowl of cheerios with milk coming right up!" She got to work, making the perfect bowl of cereal and when she finished she checked the clock. _7:12_ she read. Making her way over to the table she set down the bowl in front of her son "Eat up! We're going to be meeting Angela and Tucker in about twenty minutes!"

Danny nodded excitedly, eager to see his best friend. After twenty more minutes and lots of fussing over little things like wearing a jacket or brushing teeth, the three of them had finally made it out the door. Maddie was going to ask if Jack wanted to come along for the walk but found he was on a phone call that seemed to be for business. She could only tell because the tone of his voice was slightly more serious compared to the usual, bouncy and friendly tone he had in his voice. _It is imperative after all, to be in a serious manner when you're on a business phone call with the feds._

It was 7:40 by the time they met with the Foleys and continued walking together towards the school. Jazz walked on Maddie's left side, holding her hand, while Danny was on her right so he could also be by Tucker. The two kindergarteners were walking next to each other having an animated conversation about what outer space must be like, while Angela walked on the right side of Tucker, holding his little hand as well.

"First day of school already, can you believe it Ang?"

" _Right?!_ Ah, time really does just fly by, doesn't it Mads?"

"Mhmm… It really does Ang, it really does" Maddie said reminiscently. "I just remembered, I thought you got scheduled all of the sudden last night for a shift at the hospital this morning?"

Angela smiled at her friend, "And miss my son's first day of kindergarten? No way, you better believe I wasn't having any of that. Called in some old favors and got the evening shift instead."

Around 7:50 they all arrived at the schoolyard. Jazz convinced Maddie she knew where to go to find her class, leaving the two best friends with their little kindergarteners. "Alright kids, now we get to go on a little treasure hunt to find your classrooms so you can-"

Maddie was cut off when a device in her pocket started beeping. She pulled it out and almost felt like glaring at the little thing.

"Is there a big bad ghost around mommy?" Maddie smiled apologetically. It broke her heart that her kids had to grow up in an environment where ghost attacks and sightings were commonplace. But that's why she and Jack were there. They were going to help put an end to this, one way or another. Once every filthy ghost was exterminated from this town she'd would be able to rest. She would be able to spend more time with her family. But for now…

"Yes, sweetie, there is a ghost around."

"It's ok Mads, I'll make sure they get to class safe. You do what you need to."

"Oh, thank you Ang, you're the best." Maddie then kneeled to be eye level with her baby boy and squished him with a big a hug. "Remember to be on your best behavior today, okay? Angela is going to take you to find your teacher so I can go take care of that big bad ghost, but I promise I'll be here to pick you up at eleven. Then we can go home and I'll make us some mac n cheese for lunch, does that sound good?" Danny nodded in response.

"Ok. I'll see you later. I love you, Danny."

"Bye, I love you too mommy."

As Maddie went off in the direction of the ghost she pulled out an ectogun. She _would_ put an end to this once and for all. Only then could her family be happy together without any interruptions.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **This one is a little shorter but I feel like it still came out ok.**

 **UP NEXT:** _ **The GIW have been funding the Fenton's research for years, but now they've come to the married couple with a request, and a very tempting offer.**_

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time!**


	7. 6) Contract

Here's some quick replies to reviews on the last chapter:

 **MonsterousThings:** Yup, and they'll be making many more appearances, like in this chapter! I'm also going to be going over some stories and pov's of individual agents because, well, they're human too and there's definitely a good reason why each of them are doing what they're doing ':D and I'm glad to hear it, nothing better than seeing a new review on this story :)

 **Poksie:** I am glad little Danny has served his purpose XD

* * *

Chapter 6

 **Contract**

 _Summary: The GIW have been funding the Fenton's research for years, but now they've come to the married couple with a request, and a very tempting offer._

* * *

It was a calm Friday evening in Amity Park, something that was growing increasingly rare in the ghost infested city. Roads were busy and there was plenty of traffic, especially downtown on 83rd avenue where most of the city's entertainment was located. In this section of town, all huddled together was a movie theater, a couple of hotels, some gift shops, and a whole lot of restaurants ranging from a Nasty Burger to formal dress places with overpriced food.

One restaurant in particular happened to be much nearer to the formal end of that scale. The place was packed full of people, as was expected for a Friday night, with every table occupied. Tables filled the center of the room and comfortable looking booths lined two of the walls. The lights were dimmed and a few sparkling chandeliers hung overhead. Waiters and waitresses circled around taking orders from hungry customers who were all enjoying very diverse conversations.

In the corner booth where it was the most enclosed, sat a group of four, two males and two females, all engaged in a rather serious conversation over some drinks and an appetizer. All four were dressed relatively formally and for the most part held the same business-like expression. On one side of the booth there was a bald man wearing a suit and tinted glasses. Beside him sat a stern looking woman with her dark brown hair pulled back in an up do. She was wearing a very sophisticated black, floor length dress. Both had fairly tanned skin and possessed a certain atmosphere that almost warned people of their presence. Across from them sat a livelier looking couple, a broad-shouldered man with dark graying hair wearing a more casual suit and tie, and a redheaded woman wearing a simple dark green dress.

The woman, Madeline Fenton, took a sip of her drink. She'd been nervous about this dinner ever since their "friends in the business" had invited them the week before. It wasn't often that Jack and Maddie met with GIW executives, which made it even more nerve wracking on the odd occasions when they did. Maddie made sure Jack and herself had been looking their best when they left the house earlier because of how important this meeting was to them. The GIW had been funding the majority of the Fenton's paranormal research the past many years and they definitely couldn't allow themselves to lose those funds now.

Jack, on the other hand, had been more than enthusiastic about the meeting. He didn't see it as anything to worry about since the GIW honestly hadn't shown any signs of wanting to stop their funds. In fact, they've even recently picked it up a bit, which was understandable with the way spectral activity had been increasing.

"We trust you've both noticed that the amount of activity has gone up recently?" the woman, Sierra Hunt asked.

Maddie nodded, "Yes, we noticed the rate increased around .6% since the 3rd."

"That's why we've just been given permission to carry out an idea we had a while back, which is also why we asked the two of you here tonight." Sierra continued when both of the Fentons looked at her curiously, "We have a business proposal for you both, one we believe you'll like."

"What do you need us to make? More modern weapons? Upgraded defense systems?" Jack asked.

"No, not this time. This idea was sparked by something we found out you were both working on back at the University of Wisconsin."

"A lot of things happened in Wisconsin, which is it you're referring to?"

Sierra temporarily ignored the last question and continued, "Before we get into the actual project we'd like you to know that if you both agree to this, it will become a project of combined efforts. A team of top rated government ectologists and engineers will be assigned to collaborate with and every resource you'll need will be directly provided for by the GIW. You'll also _both_ be given a yearly salary of 120k, a 240k household income, and if the project is successful, we'll allow you both to keep your salary, continuing your work under the GIW."

Before either could cut in, Sierra also added, "And by that we mean you'll still be able to do your own research and still receive funds for it, however, to keep the salary, you'd have to be able to work on GIW missions and plans alongside your regular work as an ectologist."

Maddie processed the hoard of information she was given. _She said whatever this project is, that it was inspired by something Jack and I did in college? The two of us worked on a lot of things there, Vlad as well, but which one would she be suggesting? The project must be something massive if we'd be getting a team of scientists and engineers to aid…and that salary…damn. That's a nice income right there, and to be making that much while doing something like we'd probably be doing anyways…_

Jack beat Maddie to the big question that was on both their minds, "Wowie, that's a pretty generous offer. So, what's this project?"

The other man, Agent K, also known to some as John Kelvin, pulled out a file from his white briefcase and slid it across the table so it lay, unopened, before the Fentons. Jack moved his drink out of the way as his wife slowly opened the file. As the couple looked briefly through it, they were both shocked.

"You're asking us to build a _larger_ portal?" Maddie half whispered.

Sierra leaned in a little closer, "Think of the possibilities Madeline. _This_ could be the key to finally winning the war against ghosts. If we have access to their world, we may _finally_ have some leverage over them."

Jack took the liberty to cut in, "That's all well and good, but gee… I don't know. Back in college we couldn't get the Viewing Portal to work- my best friend, Vladdie, he got hurt pretty bad while we were working on it too." Maddie nodded, "Right, building a bigger one would just be even more hazardous."

"Proper precautions will be taken, much more than I'm sure you had in that college lab." John said.

"No matter how many precautions are taken, this can still go horribly wrong." Maddie argued.

"Things could go wrong in any experiment."

Maddie paused. _It's true_ , she thought, _that's one thing I've always relished about being a scientist. Taking risks to make greater discoveries._ Jack and Maddie shared a look with each other before Jack asked the two government workers, "Can we take some time to think things over?" Sierra nodded, "Of course. Take the file home, read through it together, you know how to reach us when you decide." Maddie put on a small smile and thanked them.

"Just remember, this could be _groundbreaking_. If it all works out, our children, our grandchildren and many more generations after can all live on a more peaceful Earth than the one we do. I firmly believe, and so do most people who know about this idea, that _this_ is the key we've been looking for." The Fentons allowed Sierra's words to sink in. Quite honestly, it left the both of them feeling like some of their hope was renewed in this ongoing fight.

Jack knew for a fact he wanted nothing more than to stop hearing constant news stories of people being hurt, or unfortunately, occasionally even killed because of ghost attacks. Too many people were getting hurt and not enough was being done about it. Even with all the technology they've developed over the years, no ghost hunting organization had any sort of _real_ advantage over ghosts.

Maddie, like her husband, hated when she saw someone get hurt because of one filthy pest, but she was also afraid. She was afraid that someday, if this problem didn't get fixed soon, she'd see one of her precious babies be hurt, and she couldn't bear to let that happen.

The party's waiter chose that moment to return with the food they had all previously ordered. From then on the topic of conversation slowly drifted into something more casual and before they knew it, they were watching the check be paid for by the two government agents who had originally invited them. The group said their polite goodbyes to each other before parting ways, two getting picked up in a expensive looking black car with tinted windows, and the other two leaving in the minivan they often used when there wasn't any kind of emergency or ghost attack. _What, did you think they drove a big, hulking RV around everywhere they went?_

When the couple arrived home they found their house surprisingly just as clean as when they left it. _Angela's just so good with kids like that_ , Maddie thought. Thankfully her friend had been able to babysit Danny and Jazz, seeing how Angela's husband Maurice had promised to take their seven (almost eight) year old son, Tucker, to see some new superhero movie tonight (something Angela hadn't been to keen on going to see). So, while the two boys of the Foley household were out this evening, she had been given an excuse to not go with them this time by opting to babysit for her closest friend.

Looking up from the couch where she'd been reading a book Angela greeted the couple, "How'd it go?"

"It was good, we've got some things to think over and read through but…I think we're going to start earning our own salary" Maddie summed up.

Angela's eyes lit up, "Really?! That's great girl, congratulations! Added with what you been making on selling some of those inventions of yours, you're gonna be pretty well off." Jack then replied, "Yeah, well, pay or not I don't think that's why we're considering this job."

"This might be a huge step towards getting rid of the ghosts always attacking this town." Maddie added to clarify.

"Well hallelujah! That's great news!" Maddie smiled brightly, "It is, thanks Ang. So, how were the kids?"

"Oh they were a couple of little angels. We played a couple games then they both went to bed about an hour ago without putting up too much of a fight about it." Then she said more quietly to Maddie, "Girl, you're raising some good kids." Maddie felt warm with pride, "Thanks so much for watching them." Angela waved her hand, "Anytime."

After that they talked only a little while longer before Angela decided she'd get going. Jack and Maddie checked in on their two kids before settling down on the couch with the file. They spent the rest of the night reading through all of it, analyzing every expense, required materials, all the people's names who were involved, and every last detail they could find. They finally came to a decision around three in the morning.

They would build this portal. They would make it work. And they would use it to their advantage in this endless struggle against ghosts.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **Wow, this one was a bit longer than I originally had planned, but no problem with that!**

 **UP NEXT: Two short chapters will be combined since they're already planned to be very similar!**

 **1-** _ **Young Danny and Jazz get a little frustrated with how loud their parents work has been lately.**_

 _ **2- During an innocent game of tag an ecto unfriendly decides to crash the party. Danny is not happy with the new guest.**_

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	8. 7) Noisy - Tag

Here's some quick replies to reviews on the last chapter:

 **MonsterousThings:** haha, thank you :)

 **Poksie:** glad you enjoy :)

* * *

Chapter 7

 **Noisy**

 _Summary: Young Danny and Jazz get a little frustrated with how loud their parents work has been lately_

* * *

 _SCRRRREEEEEEEEEECCCCHHH!_

 _BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BA-_

"When are mom and dad ever gonna stop making all those loud noises?" an eight-year-old Danny Fenton asked.

"I don't know. They just said they're building something really super important." Danny's sister, Jasmine stated.

"Well, it _is_ something really super-duper important." A third voice cut in. This was the voice of Sarah Coulson, another GIW agent. She had been working for the GIW for the past eight years of her life and it was truly a miracle she hadn't been fired yet seeing how Sarah was about the biggest softie the GIW had to offer. The GIW didn't like softies. They'd wanted hardened, determined souls willing to do anything to protect humanity (and _only_ humanity).

Sarah wasn't like most agents and she'd only kept her job this long because of her extensive amount of brain cells and ability to appeal to her superiors. The executives usually found Sarah as one of the most tolerable people to be around, not only that, but she followed orders. When she was asked to complete a task, she did it quickly and efficiently, usually without questioning them either.

Sarah Coulson was usually described as a young intelligent woman who always knew what she was doing.

The agent had been at FentonWorks to oversee the week's work being done down in the lab, but found that taking a break occasionally to chat with the Fenton kids always kept her happy and entertained. Of course, she still got _all_ her work done, writing reports on how the project was running so far and such, but break time was always a reward.

She looked thoughtfully at the board game the two kids were playing in the living room. "Why is it so important? Why's there a bunch of other people here all the time?" Jasmine asked Sarah. She smiled a little and kneeled to sit with the kids on the soft, yet worn carpet floor, "Well, you see, your mom and dad are helping the government build something that's going to protect a whole lot of people one day."

"From what?" Danny asked, honestly curious.

"From ghosts, stupid. What else would it be? Ghosts are the only thing that people talk about here." Jazz snapped back as Danny stuck his tongue out at her.

"So, what is it? What's it gonna do?" Sarah hesitated, unsure if she should tell the kids. After a moment, she determined it wouldn't do any harm to at least let them know _some_ of what's going on. "When it's finished, hopefully it will give us a way to finally get rid of all the ghosts."

"But why do you have to get rid of all of them?" Danny asked her. She looked at the kid, almost confused, "Because they hurt people, they do crimes, they aren't like us humans, they don't _reason_."

"So? Then just talk to them. Why can't you tell them to leave people alone?"

Sarah had given up arguing with this kid, it wouldn't do any good anyways. So, she just wrapped up the conversation with a simple, "You'll understand when you're older". _He's just too young to understand what a ghost really is. Too young to understand their nature and nearly nonexistent psychology._

And Sarah Coulson _was_ right. He _would_ understand when he was older. Just not in the way she'd thought. Not in any way that she could have _ever_ even _imagined_.

* * *

 **Tag**

 _Summary: During an innocent game of tag an ecto unfriendly decides to crash the party. Danny is not happy with the new guest._

* * *

It was around sunset in Amity Park that found a bunch of young kids around ages 7-12 playing one large game of tag. Some of the parents sat on the sidelines at the picnic tables, observing the big game, while a few of the other parents had actually tried to engage themselves a bit.

Being a Saturday, many of the parents had chosen to take their kids to the park that late afternoon where the kids there had then started up this game of tag with just around seven of them. After about two hours the number had _almost_ tripled as they peaked with 26 players. Now, however, with the shadows growing longer by the minute some parents began calling their children back saying they needed to go home to get dinner.

Despite a few of the players leaving, the game carried on and one girl named Jenny was It at the moment. As she ran wildly through the field, all the other players scattered. Jenny ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, chasing a cluster of kids. Her light brown, curly hair blew behind her as her breath came out in short tired huffs, but she couldn't stop now, she was catching up to them. She came closer and closer to the kid who was running at the back of the pack and as she reached her arm out and poked them as she victoriously yelled out, "You're It!"

"Aw, man!" The kid yelled out in disappointment. He turned around to face the others and his eyes suddenly grew as wide as saucers. In an instant, he turned and ran the opposite way, away from all the now confused kids.

The group stood for a moment, starring as the kids ran off screaming. _What is he doing?_ Then, their parents' cries finally reached their ears and one by one they turned around…to be faced by a massive, floating shadow. Dark cat-like eyes glared down at the kids and a low growl could be heard emitted by the creature. Had they not been so petrified, maybe the kids would've also noticed the odd-looking couple sitting on a motorbike beneath a tree at the edge of the field.

"No!" the few people who weren't completely terrified looked towards the kid who had shouted out of pure annoyance. "You ruined it!" parents sucked in their breaths. "You ruined our game!"

At this point, even the shadow creature in the air looked puzzled. "Why do you guys always ruin everything?! Everything was perfect before you came so you can just- you can just leave!"

Everyone held their breaths as the little boy with cheeks red out of exhaustion and anger finished his mini rant. Nobody moved an inch until the shadow finally shrugged and slunk away and out of sight.

As everyone stood baffled by what they'd just witnessed, the two figures on the motorbike under the tree looked on, just as confused as the humans.

"So, mister sinister shadow, looks like your scare tactics could use a little work, huh?"

"Oh come on kitten, you know Shadow an' I could scare the shit outta anyone if we wanted to."

"Yeah, anyone except a seven-year-old kid apparently."

"Don't start this again!"

"Start _what_ again?"

" _This!_ You know, _you_ blaming Shadow for _everything_ "

" _Me?!_ Well why _shouldn't_ I blame that dumb black cat?!"

 _This could go on for a long, LONG time…_

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **Hopefully you guys enjoyed these two mini chapters! This is going to be about the last we see of any Danny, Tucker, or Jazz under the age of 12/13 so, yeah ':D**

 **UP NEXT:** _ **After yet another fight with his girl, Johnny 13 ends up at a pub that happens to be near the lands of the Far Frozen.**_

 **See ya later and please review if you have time! :)**


	9. 8) A New Path

Here's some quick replies to review on the last chapter:

 **MonsterousThings:** YEEEESSSSSS (idk what we're saying yes to but that's ok XD )

 **wiseguy2415:** I was left a little speechless after I read your review lol. Thank you! I'm flattered you think so highly of my creativity. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter, then. :)

 **Poksie:** lol, I'm glad you like it ':D

* * *

Chapter 8

 **A New Path**

 _Summary: After yet another fight with his girl, Johnny 13 ends up at a pub that happens to be near the lands of the Far Frozen._

* * *

The sound of a motor echoed through the Infinite Realms as Johnny 13 sped along one of the many natural mineral formations to be found. The path itself was narrow with stalactites hanging off beneath. It went on forever with no end. With greasy blonde hair blowing in the wind and Shadow trailing at the back wheel, Johnny pressed on the gas until he was going 120 miles per.

 _Damnit, why does Katie have to be so unreasonable sometimes?_

The couple had just had another tiff that ended in Johnny getting himself kicked out of their lair. He hadn't really thought much as he went outside and got on his bike, he just knew he needed to find somewhere to chill out for a while. Johnny kept going, driving past various neighborhoods of floating doors, an occasional island or two, and, if he'd have taken the time to peer into the distance, he would've been able to see the edge of Eidolon City, the largest, most civilized community in the whole of the Ghost Zone. But Johnny's thought were elsewhere…

 _We've been going through this same fucking routine for years, something's gotta change._

Their most recent spat had been because Katie, or as most her friends called her, Kitty, had started complaining to Johnny about how dull and repetitive her afterlife had become. Johnny had taken it personally and a very loud argument ensued.

As he came back to his senses, Johnny realized the air had gained a chill and there were noticeably less floating doors around. Slowing down to around 50 mph, he noticed a small structure about two miles away. Out of curiosity, Johnny strayed away from the path and approached the building. It looked moderately old and some parts of the building had some obvious damage done to it. He came to a stop in front of it and put his foot down on the ground of the little island the building was located on. Some noises could be heard coming from inside and as he looked up he read the sign.

 _Subzero_

 _Far Frozen Entertainment and Bar_

Shrugging, Johnny parked his bike and made his way inside. Although he'd never admit it, he felt slightly intimidated walking in there, after all, eighty five percent of the occupants were huge yeti-like ghosts ( _no wonder the door was so big)_ , and the other fifteen percent looked like they could probably knock him out in an instant if they'd wanted to.

Trying not to look suspicious of anything, Johnny wandered over to the bar and asked for a simple drink ghosts called a zupu. Zupus were really just a combination of purified ectoplasm (like an energy drink for ghosts) and a bunch of different chemicals to give it an artificial flavor and _slightly_ alcoholic effect. Occasionally a ghost would be able to find a place that sold zupus with _real_ flavor and _real_ alcohol in it from the _real_ world, but that was always extremely expensive because of how hard it is for Earth Smugglers to import real world items (even more so recently, thanks to both their current monarch and the GIW).

Taking a drink, Johnny turned his attention to a very loud conversation going on at a big table near the center. There were three yetis, a Greek goddess-like warrior and a rather shady looking ghost with a black trench coat and brimmed hat wearing red glasses over their faceless body.

"-and by the time those GIW agents turned around, all their captives were flying right out the window and back to the Zone!" the yeti laughed heartily, "oh, my friends, if only you could have seen the looks on their faces!"

The others laughed along with their friend before the Greek warrior with… _four arms?..._ added with a much more serious tone than before, "Jokes aside, those humans are a very real threat and should be treated as such. They grow smarter, more competent, more deadly by the day. Their traps have recently been looking more and more like certain second-death for the weak." The others nodded in agreement. "You make good points Pandora. What we need to begin doing is stopping their plans prematurely." Another yeti added.

The faceless ghost spoke next in a strange and unidentifiable accent, "Right…hit them before they can hit us."

"But let us not forget the issue that is Eligo Dark."

"Of course not, but in this moment, the GIW should be our main concern. They've already murdered countless innocent souls and will continue to do so if we do not take a course of action immediately." The Greek warrior, Pandora said.

It didn't take Johnny very long to catch on that these ghosts _must_ have been a part of the infamous 'Alliance'. He'd heard a lot about that group, mostly bad, but he honestly believed they just got a bad rap. He'd talked to some ghosts involved in it all personally and they'd all seemed better than the rumors that had been floating around the Ghost Zone.

 _But seriously, those dudes are going after people like the GIW? AND they're talking like they're gonna try and dethrone Eligo fucking Dark! Maybe they do have some screws loose upstairs…_

Johnny took another drink of his zupu and vaguely remembered Kitty telling him something about how one of her girlfriends had just recently told Kitty she'd joined the Alliance, _who was that one girl again? Penelope? No way, she's a hard-core monarchy supporter. Ember? Yeah that sounds 'bout right, must've been her. Wait a minute, speaking of Kitty…_ He thought about their recent arguments and started taking his Kitten's words into deeper thought.

" _Johnny, this is getting old!"_

" _We've been doing the same things for almost forty years now!"_

" _This is pointless. I want a REAL reason to do stuff. To keep going."_

" _All my friends have been saying we should do this."_

" _I just want MORE. More than this boring waste of a life. If you would just LISTEN!"_

He came to a realization, _these past few years…has she really just been implying that she'd wanted to join the Alliance? It'd make sense…over the years a lot of her friends had joined._ Johnny stared blankly at the countertop, processing all this new information.

The yeti bar tender then took that moment to approach the stranger that had entered quite a few minutes ago now. "I've never seen _you_ around these parts before. Are you new?" she asked slightly wearily.

Knowing the full implication of the whole 'are you new' phrase in the Ghost Zone, Johnny quickly dismissed it, "No way, just haven't traveled out this way before." She nodded and after a moment of silence she added, "We know you aren't a part of the Alliance, but clearly you are not a royalist either. Well, _that_ much was evident when the security monitors let you take more than five step inside." She looked Johnny in the eye, "So, what _does_ bring you here?"

He took a moment to contemplate his answer before making a decision, "I think my girlfriend and I are looking to join." A smile slowly grew across the yeti's features. She put aside the glass she'd been drying, "See that other Far Frozen fellow sitting at the table in the back?" she gestured in the yeti's direction with her eyes as Johnny followed her gaze. He nodded. "That's your guy. His name is Eirwen, he's head of recruiting in the Alliance. If you really do want to join, he'll hook you and your girlfriend up."

Johnny took another glance at the guy and turned back to the bar tender, "Yeah, I'll look into that. Thanks." She nodded her head in a sort of 'you're welcome' and turned back to serve another customer who'd just arrived.

 _This is for you Kitten,_ Johnny thought to himself as he finished his drink and got up to make his way over to the table in the back where Eirwen sat.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **I Had fun with this chapter XD I love coming up with new concepts for this AU and boy did this chapter have a lot of them. In case you're curious…**

 **Earth Smugglers:** Ghosts who make frequent visits to the human realm to gather real world products like foods, plants, building materials, tech, and other pleasure items, then basically have to smuggle them past any GIW and/or Walker's goons.

 **Zupu:** This was briefly explained, but it's a very common drink for ghosts. It's like flavored water that gives a ghost ectoplasmic energy. It can also be used to help a weaker ghost maintain their form when they leave the Ghost Zone for an extended time period. When at a bar (like in this story) the drink can also have some alcohol, or more commonly, artificial alcohol in it.

 **Eidolon City:** This will be addressed more in later chapters, but it's basically an area in the Ghost Zone where there are a ton of land formations sort of tangled together. Built on them is, well, a city. Since (in this AU) there are many ghosts who see this life of theirs as a second chance and honestly try to do just as good or maybe even better than they had in their past life, Eidolon is the place where most of the positive thinkers of the GZ have gone to 'live' over the years and by now have built up a huge community. (This place will play a MUCH bigger role later on ;) ).

 **UP NEXT:** _Johnny and Kitty come to realize just how serious the Alliance is._

 **Hope you enjoyed! See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	10. 9) Wild Ride

Here's some quick replies to reviews on the last chapter:

 **MonsterousThings:** :)

 **Poksie:** Me too! Wish they would have been featured in a few more episodes...

 **wiseguy2415:** Thanks, and don't worry, I've just got a couple more like these last ones, then just a little build up, and finally, in what I'm estimating to be chapter 19 (?) Will be a very shocking experience.

 **WolfMistwood:** haha yes! I did give her the name Coulson as a sort of nod to Agent Phil Coulson in Avengers, I'm glad you noticed! XD Also, I tragically have never seen Attack on Titan so unfortunately I don't know that reference. However, I _can_ say that I gave Eirwen that name because it means something along the lines of "white snow" (and he _is_ from the Far Frozen) ;)

 **Zela Night:** Me neither, that's partly why I chose to write this :)

* * *

Chapter 9

 **Wild Ride**

 _Summary: Johnny and Kitty come to realize just how serious the Alliance is._

* * *

"You didn't!" Kitty yelled, her disbelieving exclamation echoing through the couple's lair, "No way! I don't believe you!"

"No, Kitten, I'm being honest here! They asked for us to meet with them next week." Johnny defended.

Katie nearly squealed with excitement as she ran to her significant other and hugged him tightly. "I love you," she said, then paused to think again, "but I'm still annoyed it took so long to get my point through that thick skull of yours."

Johnny chuckled a little, "I know, I probably could've had better listening skills…" Kitty smirked up at him. "But I wanna make it up to you, Kitten." Her smile grew brighter. "So whatdya say Kitten? You sure about this?" Johnny asked, already knowing in his mind what her answer would be. With a smile brighter than the most beautiful sunset, Katie nodded, "Yes. But are you?"

Johnny smiled, "What the hell, why not?"

One week later found Kitty and Johnny waiting anxiously somewhere near the edge of the Far Frozen. The couple looked to each other reassuringly with hands weaved together. Just a little ways away they could clearly see the bulky form of Eirwen approaching with one other yeti. "Ready?" Johnny asked. Katie nodded anxiously, "I was _formed_ ready."

As the two yetis finally reached them Kitty felt intimidated by their presence, _it was kinda hard not to be at least a little bit so._

Eirwen and his friend finally made it to the couple and they exchanged some average greetings before he led the way. "Where are we going?" Kitty asked. Eirwen pointed towards a chain of islands, "That out there is Pandora's Keep. The Alliance has one of our bases hidden beneath her temple and gardens."

"So you guys' bases…they're all hidden now? Or just this one? I thought- hey, babe, wasn't that an Alliance building we used to drive by whenever we visited Eidolon?" She thought for a second and nodded a bit in confirmation. The yeti ghost sighed, "Some many years ago, before Eligo Dark began his dictatorship, we hadn't the need to hide. After Dark demanded his right to the throne, our main training base was bombed and with it over 200 souls were vaporized, men, women, even some children."

Kitty and Johnny's eyes widened a bit in disbelief, they'd caught word of the attack years ago when it happened, but had never heard any sort of details up until this moment. After a brief, yet melancholy silence, Kitty spoke, in a tone softer than her usual one, "I- we had no idea that's what really happened…"

Eirwen nodded solemnly before doing what he could to brighten the mood again, "We've learned from our mistakes and moved on. Today you will notice we take a great many more precautions."

After a short walk _(or float?)_ the small group came to the edge of Pandora's main island where unearthly plants grew wild and white marble columns accented their surrounding nature. Kitty took in all the beautiful sights, something so very rare in the Infinite Realms where only the dead resided.

Continuing on their path, the group came up to what appeared to be a normal white marble wall, but as Eirwen placed his large paw upon it they realized that definitely was not the case. The yeti ran through all the security walls like a breeze and once they found themselves starring ahead at the high-tech staircase that led downward. The ghostly couple realized then that they were in for a wild ride.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **OMG OMG OMG this took WAY too long to get up and I sincerely apologize for that! Things just got a little busy here and before I knew it was a week and a half later?! I will try my hardest to not let it go on like that again. EVEN WORSE, this chapter is SUPER short D: The next WILL be longer, and have hopefully better quality than this, I promise that. ;)**

 **UP NEXT:** _Samantha Manson, 7th grade loner and goth, discovers that maybe there are still some good people left in this world._

 **Hope you enjoyed! See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	11. 10) Trio

Here's some quick replies to reviews on the last chapter:

 **wiseguy2415:** It _is_ a possibility. Not sure yet, but if that does happen it probably won't be until later chapters.

 **Poksie:** I'm glad you like it! :)

* * *

Chapter 10

 **Trio**

 _Summary: Samantha Manson, 8th grade loner and goth, discovers that maybe there are still some good people left in this world._

* * *

A warm August breeze blew softly across a wide field behind the place commonly known as Iron Oak Elementary, one of Amity Park's better public schools. It was recess time for all the 8th graders, which meant a large variety of things were taking place, however, one girl particular chose to sit alone on the very far side of the field, beneath an old oak tree. Munching on some sunflower seeds, she observed everything going on in her sight.

In the east were the basketball and volleyball courts where, much to Sam's disgust, she saw Paulina with all her preppy little friends playing a game of volleyball. She watched them for about a minute until she heard Paulina scream about her hair being messed up, _and…que eye roll and groan of annoyance and disgust,_ she thought bitterly. Moving on to observe the game of basketball, Sam spotted a kid from her class, _Wesley, right? Or don't people call him Wes? Whatever, I don't really care._ She watched as he threw a pretty good shot from the three point line and was soon after congratulated by his teammates.

She was distracted by a loud yell and she turned to see the school's biggest jerkface running to retrieve a rogue football that had flown off the wrong way due to a crappy pass. On his way, he accidentally _(but was it truly an accident?)_ , bumped into another kid with darker skin and a red beret. The two weren't that far from her so Sam heard the kid yell for Dash to watch it. _Ouch. That was a bad move._

Just as Sam had mentally predicted, Dash didn't take well to retaliation. "Why don't _you_ watch it, nerd!" Dash yelled back angrily, turning around and taking a step closer to the kid so they were just two feet from each other. "Yeah, man, when _you_ realize the world doesn't revolve around you." the kid shot back. _Oh shit,_ Sam thought, _is that guy suicidal or something? The hell is he doing? I mean it's great that someone's finally standing up to Dash, but shouldn't one's own safety come first in the mind of a teenage boy?_

Dash was red with rage as he moved to either grab or shove the kid down when another surprisingly brave soul cut in, stepping between the two. "Dash stop it. J-just leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you."

 _What is this? Two people standing up to Dash Bastard in one day?_ Sam kept watching safely from the cover of the old oak tree as Dash made his move and gripped the collar of the other kid's shirt. "And the little geek comes to the rescue... Well now who's gonna save _you Fenturd_?"

Sam winced a bit as Dash punched the kid, causing him to stumble to the ground. Dash turned away and was joined by his friend, Kwan, but as the two were leaving he taunted one last time, "Why don't you run home crying to your freaky parents now, huh Fenturd?!" Sam sneered in their direction as Kwan laughed along with Dash as they returned to the football game. _That son of a bitch._

She saw as the first kid helped his friend up, "C'mon dude, let's go get an ice pack for that." Sam realized it was probably a good time to see if that guy was ok, _after all, Dash's punches can be pretty brutal. Mikey learned that last year when he ended up with a concussion. He's lucky Dash wasn't actually real upset with him, otherwise it might've ended in more than just one hit._ She looked at the two walking slowly in the direction of the nurse's office and was about to run after them when the bell rang. Making a quick mental decision, Sam closed her bag of sunflower seeds and headed back to her homeroom class…

Standing in the school nurse's office Tucker tapped his foot anxiously on the tile floor. He hated _any_ office that screamed "MEDICAL" with syringes and the smell of sick people, which was rather ironic, seeing as _his own mother_ was a doctor at the local hospital. However, this time he was there for Danny, his best friend since they could crawl.

The nurse handed Danny an ice pack just as another student, a girl Tucker never remembered meeting before, walked in and crept invisibly along the side of the room. "What happened?" the nurse asked. Danny hesitated a moment, "…uuuhhh I ju- I just tripped and…and kind of ran into…um…a light post." Tucker had to suppress a snicker at how horrible his friend was at lying.

Somehow, the nurse accepted Danny's drawn out, stuttering mess of an explanation and moved on to ask the other girl that had come in what she needed. Tucker looked as she rubbed near the bridge of her nose, "I've got a terrible headache, could I maybe have a Tylenol?" The nurse nodded in understanding. "Of course. Let me see here…" she rummaged through one the drawer before closing it and getting up, "I'll be right back." The nurse left the room and Tucker watched as the girl sat down, put her earbuds in, and turned up the volume loud enough for him to hear six feet away. He quirked an eyebrow and just starred for a while. When she finally noticed the weird long, weird look Tucker was giving her, she turned down the volume, "What?"

"Didn't you _just_ say you had a huge headache? Last I checked, blasting music in your ears doesn't cure a headache." Tucker said, "Not that I'm _against_ blasting music in your ears..."

Sam shrugged, "I lied. Actually, just thought I'd check up on Dash's latest victim." In the background Danny groaned, "Augh…you saw that?"

Sam smirked, "Mhmm. Why'd you lie?" Danny's expression remained blank so Sam continued, "To the nurse. Why'd you lie?"

There was a beat of silence and Danny opened his mouth to respond right when the nurse came back into the room. Sam motioned for him to wait as the lady gave her a Tylenol. "Well, we should probably be getting back to class now, thanks!" she said as she left the little office followed soon after by the two boys. The three of them started walking down the hall and as soon as they passed a trash can, Sam threw the pill away.

She refused to let either of them get away without an answer to her previous question, so she pursued it again. "It's kinda pointless to report Dash." The guy's friend joined in, "Yeah, no matter how many times its happened, or how severe it gets, Dash just always wriggles out of any detention."

This, of course, wasn't all that new of information to Sam, "He's a real spoiled jack ass, isn't he? Probably just been using his upper class status to get everything _his_ way his whole life." With a second thought she added, "Just like _most_ rich people do."

Tucker seized the moment to add his two cents, "Hey, not _everyone_ who's loaded is a spoiled brat." And he should know, his mother is a doctor and a surgeon when needed. Tucker didn't think _he_ turned out to bad. _Hell, Danny's parents are inventors for the frickin GIW and none of them act rich._

Sam laughed at Tucker's comment and added somewhat mysteriously, "Oh trust me, I know." The trio reached the end of the hall and Sam went to take a left turn. "Where're you going? Our classes are this way." Danny asked, pointing down the hall to the right with one hand, the other hand still holding the ice pack to the side of his face. "Not if you wanna take the _long_ way to class…" she smirked a little as the two shrugged and followed her to the left.

Sam pulled out her phone for a second to change the song that had been playing through her earbuds when Tucker caught sight of the screen over her shoulder. He gasped loudly, "NO WAY!" he nearly _shrieked_ excitedly before moving to examine the device in Sam's hand from every angle he could. "What...?" she asked in a low, unimpressed tone.

"He's either geeking out over the fact that you, like us, listen to Dumpty Humpty. Or, the more likely thing is that he's totally infatuated by your phone." Danny explained like this was the most normal occurrence in all the world.

"You have the latest model of the Pear 4?! How'd you get it?! I _preordered_ and it hasn't come yet!" Tucker was nearly hysterical at this point, not daring to take his eyes off the beautiful piece of technology.

Sam, however, paid no attention and instead focused on something else, "You guys like Dumpty Humpty?!"

"They're our favorite band." Danny said, "Well, Tuck claims he like Daft Punk more but that's only because of that one song they have." Sam laughed, "So, he's like a _total_ techno geek?" Danny answered after seeing his friend was still too caught up in the phone that Sam had at this point just handed to him, "Yup. He won the Amity Park computer hacking competition when he was ten."

Tucker, hearing this, looked up and added, "You're damn right I did."

For the following minutes the three of them continued wandering through the halls, talking about whatever could possibly present itself as relevant.

Eventually they turned one more corner and the trio found they'd unfortunately already made it back to the 8th grade classrooms. _Time really does fly when you're having fun._ Sam laughed slightly, "I'm going to be perfectly honest here, I don't know either of your names."

"Well then, allow me to introduce myself, _I_ am Tucker Foley, or TF as in Too Fine. And this fellow geek right here is Danny Fenton, the single person with the most bizarre family you will ever find here in Amity Park." Danny rolled his eyes slightly at his friend. "And you, goth girl? Are you really a goth though? You seem like you smile too much to _actually_ be goth. Just saying."

"Sam. Sam Manson. Call me Samantha and I'll give you a black eye worse than Dash's. I'm a goth in the sense that I only wear black and can be _hella_ edgy when I feel like it."

The other two laughed and were just about to go their separate ways, having missed at least twenty minutes of class at this point. "Are you sure you're eye's ok?" Danny shifted the ice pack, "Ye-yeah, thanks. You know, you didn't have to…" Sam smiled a little, "Well I'm sorta glad I did…" there was a bit of an awkward silence when none of them knew what to say.

"So…I'll see you guys tomorrow then?" Sam asked. Danny gave a slightly lopsided smile, "Definitely."

When she was at home later that evening Sam thought about the day's events. Those two…they seemed…genuine. She didn't think there was anyone _left_ like that…

6th grade had been the worst year of her life. That's when people changed. _That_ is when everyone went from being cool with most everyone else in the grade, to forming their little cliques and social groups. _That's_ when peers' worth suddenly became determined by social class.

 _And THAT is when people who used to be good friends with you, END UP DITCHING YOU!_ Sam was fuming and her hands clenched into fists. A few tears threatened to drip from her eyes, but she fought hard against them. "I'm talking to _you_ , Paulina." She took a shaky breath, "You used to be so cool to hang out with…what happened to you…to fall so low?"

Rage coursed through her and she suddenly found herself chucking her pencil across her dark room. It hit the wall with a clang as Sam's anger fled her, replaced by a wave of sadness. She willed herself to not let a single tear fall. _That's all in the past now,_ she thought to herself, _it's time to just move on. Paulina's not worth my tears._

Sam took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She hated it when she got herself all worked up like this over nothing. She climbed up onto her bed, leaving her homework abandoned on the floor. The TV flickered to life and she saw the channel was still on the GEBS (Ghost Emergency Broadcasting System) where they were currently rerunning an interview from a few weeks ago with two ectologists.

" _So, Mr and Mrs Fenton, do you have anything to add on the recent rise in actvi…"_

Sam got lost in her thoughts for a moment, _something…I'm missing something…why is this so familiar suddenly…?_

" _Of course, as a parent myself I definitely understand the concerns parents have for their children. We will not deny that ghosts have been a rising threat for years and we will not deny that they can be dangerous- very dangerous. However, we are working to protect the public. As you probably know, it is now legal here in Amity Park to carry a small ecto weapon. We're also working on getting schools here to offer a half semester class to all students so they'll be more educated on these threats and know how to protect themselves if they ever need to."_

" _Alright, we're going to go to a quick break here, but stick around! Because when we come back we'll be asking the Fentons how ordinary people like you and I can learn how to use an ectogun so that we can all be a little safer from the supernatural."_

As the commercials came on Sam sat and thought for a moment. When it finally hit her she felt like an idiot for not having pieced it together earlier at school.

"Fenton, huh. Well I guess that makes some sense."

As she sat and continued to watch the rest of the interview Sam pondered what it must be like to live in a family of world renown ghost hunters.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS NOW BEEN REVISED!**

 **Not sure that I'm liking the way I ended it right there, however…writing the rest of this chapter was so fun XD this is also the longest chapter I've done so far, so yay!**

 **Here's just a little explanation of some things from this chapter (going through it chronologically). Yes, I did sneak a little Wes in there. There's more swearing in this chapter because, well, they're teenagers and from my experience, the most swearing in school occurred in 7th and 8th grade. I'm just trying to portray how real people their age would behave.**

 **Yes, I included Tucker's fear of hospitals/doctors' offices/nurses' offices, although it's not quite as extreme or irrational as is portrayed in the show lol. Next, kids, don't listen to what these fictional characters say. If you come across bullying at school, report it. However, if there's anyone here younger than 13 you should probably evacuate soon…there's gonna be some** _ **dark**_ **stuff… :)**

 **Neither Tucker nor Danny seem to have wealthy families in the show, but in this universe Tucker's mom is a doctor/surgeon, and the Fentons work for the fricking** _ **government**_ **.**

 **There was also a reference in here to the episode** _ **Attack of the Killer Garage Sale**_ **(I think) from that scene where Sam proves to Tucker that she can get her hands on new tech pretty quickly. Another reference was to** _ **Reality Trip**_ **when the trio are going to a Dumpty Humpty concert. Last reference in this section was from the YouTube video** _ **107 Facts About Danny Phantom**_ **. Butch talked about how on some computers in the show you can see a little pear symbol, like an Apple rip off, so I'm just gonna take that little idea and run with it.**

 **Name the ONE Daft Punk song that Tucker likes in the reviews! XD (it shouldn't be too hard)**

 **Sam's never really talked about any of her past friends in the show and she's always particularly bitter around Paulina so I just said,** _ **hey, what if they used to be friends when they were little? Also, I hadn't planned for that slightly angsty scene at all. It just sort of came. I wrote it mostly through my own elementary school experiences because that's just one way I feel like I can really relate to Sam's character. 6th grade was lonely.**_

 _ **LAST ONE! Yes. In this universe, it is totally legal for people to carry ghost weapons on them at any/all times as long as they are the kind made specifically for public distribution (the ones that can't harm a human in any way shape or form).**_

 **If you made it this far, I honestly applaud you. Lol sorry that was such a long author's note.**

 **UP NEXT:** When a very distressed, former royalist comes crashing into the Alliance HQ, claiming to possess some dire information, how does the Alliance handle it?

 **See ya later and please review if you have the time! :)**


	12. Chapter 11

Here's some quick replies to reviews on the last chapter:

 **Lexosaurus:** Wow! You left a lot of reviews, which I'm very grateful for, so I'm going to reply to them according to what chapter you left them on ;)

6: That's really interesting! I actually had no idea, so thanks for that bit of information! When I was writing that chapter I _believe_ I was getting the idea from my own younger days, when sometimes, even if I knew the correct word, I'd sorta mess it up on purpose for some reason XD maybe that was just me, I don't know, but either way, thanks for the info!

9: I'm glad you enjoy this take on it! Gotta agree with ya, there was always such potential for this darker theme.

11: RIGHT?! It would make so much sense! It _should_ be fanon. XD And YES I am raising the stakes in this AU. A little tid bit, I was actually inspired by current events to make the society in this fic a LOT more divided and controversial. I'm _not_ bringing any _real life_ politics into it, however, I want the story to seem relevant to the times and relatable to readers. Now I'm just rambling on a bit so I'll quit it here. Thank you SO much for all the reviews, they really put a smile on my face :) I look forward to hopefully hearing your thoughts on future chapters!

 **Guest:** That sounds cool! It does make sense, doesn't it? Like, they're both ghost hunters, they both hate ghosts with a passion, and they both generally want the same thing! It would've been cool if they had addressed that in an episode, don't you think? XD Thanks for the review! :)

* * *

Chapter 11

 **Our Very Reliable Double Agent**

 _Summary: When a very distressed, former royalist comes crashing into the Alliance HQ, claiming to possess some dire information, how does the Alliance handle it?_

* * *

Ember sat leaning back in a desk chair with her feet up on the table while her fingers gently tuned her electric guitar. Since she'd joined the Alliance nearly fourteen years ago, she'd gotten a number of upgrades on her guitar to the point it was now her main weapon of choice. The Doc and a few of his engineer coworkers had helped her learn to merge some of her own ectoplasmic energy into the strings so when she played it, she could form an amped up energy blast five times stronger than she could do on her own. She'd also gotten a dial installed on it so she could switch through different power levels. Just for fun, she'd also gotten some blue flames painted on the face of it, giving it a bit of a personal touch.

Looking up, Ember watched as her friend, Katie, sometimes known as 'Kitty', strolled into the room. Johnny and Katie had signed up just a couple years ago and since then had definitely made their way up the rankings. The couple often went on some of the more secretive missions, ones like scouting out some hidden royalist bases of operations, tracking down certain individuals, and _sometimes_ even going to collect new information on the inner workings of the GIW, however those were the most dangerous missions and were often only given to the most skilled of shape shifters.

"Hey Em, you give Frostbite that report from last night yet?"

 _Right. Last night._

Frostbite had asked Ember to check in to see how the newer recruits had been doing in training, and if she were being perfectly honest…they sucked. Of course, they'd get better over time, and truly, they were _lucky_ to still be getting any new recruits at all. The Alliance, well, it wasn't _that_ big of an organization. Sure, they had multiple different locations, top of the line technology, _and_ they had some of the most determined, good willed ghosts you'll ever find, but when it all came down to it, they were pitifully outnumbered.

"No, I'll do it on my way out later." Ember said

Katie pulled up another chair and sat down for a moment. She inspected her nails, "So, I just got my new assignment…looks like I get to spend the week at a nice place in Eidolon." Ember glanced up from her guitar before looking back down and wiping a smudge off the face of it. "Damn, you're lucky." She replied, "Weren't you _just_ in LA, like, yesterday?"

Katie chuckled a bit, "Girl, where have you been? That was _three months_ ago!" Ember groaned in return, time had just been flying by for her these past few months…or years. Not that she'd ever be heard complaining, her life- _err…afterlife…second life…whatever-_ had been rather uneventful before she'd joined the Alliance.

Sighing, Katie stood and hovered just above the floor, "Well, I've gotta pack, Johnny and I leave in an hour and it takes at least twenty minutes to get back to our lair out in the 7th sector." Ember nodded, just about to reply when-

-A loud crash resonated through the room, originating a couple corridors down from the two girls. The sound echoed through the whole base, halting everyone in their tracks. Some instinctively reached for their weapon or in the case of the stronger and more experienced, charged up an ectoblast in their palm.

The following seconds everything became _deathly_ silent, not a single soul uttered a word. Those seconds felt to most like hours as they listened for _anything_ else that would signal a threat. Some began to doubt, thinking it could've just been a misfire of a weapon, a fight in the breakroom, _hell_ , maybe it was just another one of Dr. Benson's crazy experiments gone wrong.

The silence seemed endless. Ember had her hand hovering over one of her guitar picks since she first heard the explosion, unsure, yet prepared for the worst. Kitty had been even more on the defensive, already having drawn her favorite switchblade from her jacket pocket.

Just as they started to doubt the chance of a real threat was when the alarms blasted to life. Every room and hallway became bathed in swirling red lights and a blaring siren. Ghosts all over the facility jumped into action, having been trained for situations such as this. Ember and Kitty moved in synch as they bolted out of the room, towards the origin of the explosion.

While on their way to the site, Ember adjusted her grip on her guitar with her right, scarred and gloved hand clutching one of her many guitar picks. She adjusted the setting on her guitar to a moderately high power level, not knowing what to expect when the turned this next corner…

A wall had been blown out and far at the top of the opening one could see the infinite blackness of the Ghost Zone lined with some of the plants that had been growing around the now singed ground. There was a pile of rubble in the corridor along with the smoking remains of whatever wiring had been running through that particular wall.

In the center of the mess sat a strange looking ghost with his hands up and at least ten weapons pointed at him. The ghost himself had deep green skin with black shades. His hair was long and silver, slicked back and flowing freely behind him. He wore a long cool gray trench coat with a classy tie and black gloves. However, the thing that unnerved everyone in the room were the bands wrapped around his upper arms, both clearly presenting a symbol the Alliance knew all too well. The insignia of Eligo Dark. Pariah Dark's heir to the throne of the Infinite Realms. Ember backed off as she came to realize the ghost seemed to be alone and had already surrendered for some reason or another.

She numbly watched from the sidelines as the ghost was put in handcuffs and led away from the scene. The alarms had been silenced five minutes ago after they'd had the threat under control. Ember hardly noticed. All she could think about that they'd been found. Their _main_ headquarters had been found and penetrated by a royalist. _This doesn't feel right,_ Ember though to herself. From all she'd understood, royalists were never seen alone, there was _always_ backup. Much to her pleasure, she'd overheard Frostbite voicing the same concerns and listened as he sent out the reconnaissance to secure the surrounding sector of the Ghost Zone.

Luckily Ember found that she was on Frostbite's good side, which ensured her access to the interrogation. An hour later, Kitty had had to leave for her and Johnny's assignment so it was just Ember and a handful of other Alliance personnel standing behind the one way mirror. The intruder sat at a table in the other room across from Frostbite. The ghost seemed relatively calm, _for being in the hands of the enemy, that is._ He still wore the handcuffs, no doubt cancelling out his powers.

The room itself was dull, not that it should've been anything else, _it IS just an interrogation after all. However,_ Ember thought bitterly, _our place probably seems like cupcakes and ponies compared to whatever hellish kind of interrogations royalists probably conduct._

"What do you call yourself?" Frostbite asked the ghost. The intercom had been left on so Ember and the others could hear whatever they said.

"I am Nicolai Technus" the ghost said rather proudly with just a hint of an accent. _No need to even check the lie detectors on that one_.

Frostbite clasped his paws together, "You are a royalist." It was simply a fact. "How many others know of our location?" 'Nicolai' wasted no time in answering, "It is just I."

Frostbite subtly raised an eyebrow, signaling the ones behind the mirror for confirmation. The computer system processed his answers and came up negative. No lie detected. One of the guys gave the results to Frostbite through his commlink. "Very well. If it is only you who knows of this base, why have you not told your coworkers this surely vital information? Is it _not_ illegal to withhold information such as this?"

"It _is_ against Eligo's law, but whether you choose to believe me or not I can assure you I no longer support that self-proclaimed ruler of the Ghost Zone."

This took everyone watching by surprise. They'd _never_ seen or heard of a royalist that renounced the current monarch. Suspicions were raised, despite the still negative results of the lie detector. Some began chalking it up to the fact that it was not completely unheard of for a ghost to cheat a lie detector. Ember, however, despite her own suspicions, began to feel a sliver of hope. _If we had someone on our side who knew the system inside and out, well…we just might finally gain the advantage we've always needed._

"What you speak of is nearly absurd. No royalist that we know of has ever abandoned a monarch. Why would you, Nicolai?"

The other ghost tensed slightly, "I was enjoying my job as a computer technician there until I witnessed something that shook my complete view of the monarchy." He shifted, "To be brief, I had _secretly_ overheard a rather disturbing command from the king." After a long pause he continued, "He made an emergency decree to have anyone in jail under suspicion of having ties to your Alliance to be terminated. No trials, no nothing!"

Gasps and murmurs broke out in the small room behind the one way mirror. Ember felt her core stop for a second, she knew there were hundreds, even thousands of innocents under suspicion of Alliance relations held in prison, even still… _they couldn't…they wouldn't._ Ember tried denying the truth even though it whispered to her, _reminding_ her of all the cruelty she'd seen them get away with.

Inside the room Frostbite collected himself, "You speak the truth?" he asked, however, it came out sounding like more of a statement than a question, especially after he'd received a reluctant, yet definite confirmation that the detector results remained negative.

Coming to a decision, Frostbite called for the guards, "We will continue this talk at a later time, Nicolai. We have pressing matters to attend to at this moment. If what you are saying is false, you will likely face charges within the Alliance's system. If you speak truths, you just may gain _some_ of our trust in you."

Ember fled the room to catch up with Frostbite as he walked briskly down the corridor towards the main control room. "What are we gonna do?" she asked, "If he's telling the truth the monarchy would have _already_ begun their plan within the time it took for him to give that bit of info to us." They yeti nodded grimly, "We will do all we can."

Two months later.

Nicolai Technus weaved expertly through the halls of the king's largest military base. He'd been sent on this job to fix a bug in the base's security system, however, unknown to the Royalists, his task became far more complicated.

Stopping behind a corner, Technus pulled up the sleeve of his coat and began typing vehemently into the computer around his wrist. After a moment he continued his journey down the long, dreary hall, smirking at the deactivated security cameras. A couple months back he'd never have imagined he'd be the one to commit treason.

Coming to the end of _that_ hall, Technus stopped once again and watched through the eyes of the cameras as two guards stood outside a metal door. Another guard walked up to the two of them and, upon receiving questioning looks, proceeded to take a swing at the one to the right. As the one was temporarily dazed, the rogue guard pulled out a Taser and shocked the other. The guard to the left felt to the floor with a thud and as the other one began to get up again, they too, became acquainted with the Taser.

Rounding the corner whilst deleting the latest security footage and shutting down more cameras, Technus at last met up with his partner. The rogue guard began to shift, contorting his body until it became that of a purple faceless ghost with a black trench coat and hat.

While his coworker shifted, Technus grabbed one of the guards' keycards and swiped it through the machine to the right of the door. The metallic entry slid open with a hiss and as soon as he was inside, Technus knew what he was looking for.

Off to the side Amorpho kept watch as his partner worked his way through the numerous files. Upon finding the right one, Technus quickly copied the file and sent it through a secure server, directly to the Alliance.

With their own job done, Technus closed all the files and deleted the recent history from the data base, leaving his searches untraceable. The two of them then proceeded to make they're unnoticed escape back toward Alliance HQ…

Where Pandora had just received the file, and was now on her way to delivering a copy of it to another member. Pacing down the long white hall, the Greek ghost held the chip with the file on it in two of her hands as a third one pushed open the door to a large, messy looking room. Perched in a swiveling chair near the entrance was a twelve-year-old ghost kid with pale, almost greyish skin, and green hair, wearing a pirate hat. "Oh, hey Pandora!" the kid exclaimed cheerily.

"Hello, Youngblood. I have something very important to give to Dr. Benson, is he here?" she asked. Youngblood pointed the way, "Said he was busy, though." Pandora smiled and thanked the young ghost, proceeding towards the doctor, who she found, immersed deep within his studies. She set down the chip on the desk in front of the man. he visibly startled, "Pandora! I-I'm sorry I didn't see you there!"

"No worries. We just received this file from Technus. It _should_ contain the ingredients to the new chemical weapon the monarchy has. Your new assignment is to try and find a weakness in it, and if possible, create an antidote." she said, "Good luck."

Minutes later, Dr. Richard Benson began is tedious search through the list of components and found himself _very_ grateful for their new double agent.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay! I'm heading into my last week of school right now so workloads and stress levels are pretty much at the biannual peak right now. ':D after the 25th I'll have lots more time on my hands and will be able to keep to my schedule better than I have been lately. :)**

 **On another note, I'm trying to make my chapters gradually get longer. They started off at around 1000 words each, now I'm at 2000. The goal will be to get to at least 4000 words per chapter.**

 **This chapter was to sort of get a better look at the inside workings of the Alliance and set up which ghosts are on which sides, and yes I** _ **did**_ **sneak a little Youngblood in there right at the end of this chapter because that kid is honestly near the top of my list for favorite ghosts. XD**

 **UP NEXT:** _Sam meets the Fenton's for the first time and makes up her mind on more than one of the issues Amity Park faces._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have the time! :)**


	13. Chapter 12

Here's a quick reply to a review on the last chapter:

 **Zela Night:** That's a good point! I'm glad you like it! :)

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Chapter 12

 **Meet My Crazy Family**

 _Summary: Sam meets the Fentons for the first time and makes up her mind on more than one of the issues Amity Park faces._

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It was just past three o'clock on a school day in mid fall. Loads of students could be seen crossing the street from the elementary school, heading towards the residential area of the town. One such group consisted of three very familiar eighth graders as they began their walk to the farthest edge of the neighborhood where one would start to see some stores and smaller shops nearby.

"So it just occurred to me that this is the first time I'll have actually been to your house." Sam began, sounding borderline cheery in comparison to her rather dark taste in apparel. "I mean, we usually just go to Tuck's place. Not that I'm complaining," she added, turning to Tucker, "your mom is an awesome cook. Plus, she's always remembered about my vegetarian diet, which is pretty considerate compared to my own parents."

Tucker mumbled something about meat under his breath before finally tearing his eyes off his phone for the first time since they'd left the school grounds. "That's cause when we go to my place, we don't have to worry about the basement causing some sort of nuclear explosion." he pointed out.

"Ok, I know they've got some pretty crazy stuff down there, but I don't think they'd actually have anything too radioactive or explosive." Danny said, but after thinking a moment he also added, "…at least I hope not."

Sam scuffed the heels of her boots on the dull sidewalk as they walked. She wouldn't admit it, but she was really curious to see what the rest of the Fentons were actually like. After all, the name was known throughout pretty much all of Amity Park and even through ghost hunting organizations worldwide.

As the trio turned another corner, they were greeted by a row of about a dozen houses facing a small field on the other side of the street with a couple little trees covered in red, yellow, and brown leaves.

After a short silence Danny had decided to ask, "Are you guys sure you want to work on the project at my place? It's just that…it can be kind of loud sometimes. And distracting."

Sam glanced back at Tucker to find he was, as per usual, typing away on his phone. He must not have had to think too hard about whatever he was doing because he apparently heard and replied to Danny, "My Ma's got work friends over, and _she_ " he nodded towards Sam, "said she doesn't like being at her place."

 _He's got that right,_ she thought. What, with her overbearing, pompous mother scrutinizing everything she does and says and wears. _Not to mention that I never really told either of them I'm pretty loaded._ If they saw the kind of house, _scratch that, mansion_ her and her family lived in…

Danny shrugged, "We could always go to the library or something." Sam swiftly caught on to what he was trying to do, "Danny, the library is another twenty minute walk in the complete opposite direction. Besides, what does some noise matter? We're always blasting some Dumpty Humpty album while we do homework and stuff anyways." Danny just sighed as they continued walking, "Don't say I didn't warn you…"

As they kept walking, Tucker began talking about the new Doomed update, rambling on about which characters got the best new skins, weapons, and whatnot. Sam listened for about a minute when her attention was stolen away by a single wet drop hitting the bridge of her nose. She wiped it away roughly and turned to look up to the sky. The gray clouds were thickening and she could tell there were some even darker clouds headed in their way if the winds' direction had anything to do with it.

 _Oh well, a little rain never killed anyone. I'll still be able to walk home later,_ she thought to herself. However, it seemed karma had it out for her today as just a moment later the three of them could clearly hear the roll of thunder off in the distance.

"Yes! Man, I love thunderstorms!" Tucker seemed to be the only one perked up by the sudden change in weather. "Yeah? How about being outside in them?" Sam asked in a low tone. Tucker just shrugged, "Hey, I'll live so long as I've got this nice waterproof case right-"

Tucker had taken off one shoulder strap of his backpack and had it pulled around in front of himself. He unzipped it and began rummaging through his stuff, becoming increasingly panicked. "Shit! I left it at home today! C'mon Danny, bro we've gotta run for it!" Danny groaned a little in response, "Tuck, your phone will be fine. The storm isn't even here yet and we're almost there anyways."

Tucker grumbled something about not having any respect for his baby Charlotte and proceeded to pull open a weather radar app on his phone. "According to this, it's supposed to start raining any minute now."

As if on cue, the sidewalks began to appear littered with small raindrops and a distant flash in the sky was all the motivation the trio needed to pick up the pace a bit.

Tucker quickly held his phone close to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to keep it dry. Both Sam and Danny went to pull the hoods of their jackets up, although it did little to help. Within just minutes the once small droplets of water morphed into a heavy rainfall. Combined with the wind, the sound of raindrops hammering the rooftops, sidewalks, and streets became loud enough that the trio had to yell just to hear each other.

"Well this was sudden!" Danny yelled, nearly getting cut off by another bout of thunder. Sam pulled her black hood farther over her head, "Duh, that's mother nature for you!" She crossed her arms and looked ahead where, even through the thick layer of rain, she could see the neon sign reading _Fenton Works. Yep. Real subtle there._

By the time they were in front of the… _house?_...Sam was able to see the rest of it. The somewhat old fashioned red brick, the tall, narrow windows, _the fucking UFO with probably close to fifty satellite dishes on it!_ As they walked up the steps to hide under the porch from the rain, Sam could practically feel the electric buzz radiating from the neon sign above.

The three of them stood, huddled on the porch and Danny grabbed his keys out from his backpack. Sam took to observing the storm, trying to ignore the few shivers that ran through her. _As if it wasn't already cool outside, being drenched from head to toe isn't really helping._ Her eyes caught sight of a lightning bolt as Danny was fiddling with his keys, trying to find the right one. Apparently, it had been closer than it appeared because the resounding boom was nearly deafening and practically shook the air itself. Sam couldn't control the flinch she let slip from the way her heart had skipped a beat, but seemingly she wasn't alone as Tucker had taken to swearing loudly and Danny had dropped his keys again.

It was a bit of a miracle when Danny had finally gotten the door open, _seriously_ , Sam had considered just hitting the doorbell. The three of them at last rushed inside to be greeted by much warmer, dryer air.

The first thing that registered in Sam's mind was that everything was so shockingly, well, _normal_. A _normal_ living room with a couch, armchair, and TV. A _normal_ open, eat-in kitchen. A _normal_ staircase leading to the second story. And a _normal_ \- _wait, nope that's not normal._ Sam glanced over the strange door with multiple heavy duty locks and red warnings all over it, quickly coming to the assumption that that must lead to their lab.

A middle-aged woman with short red hair came down the stairs just then, carrying a basket of laundry. She noticed the trio standing by the door after a moment, "Oh there you kids are! I was just about to call to see if you needed a ride home because of this storm that just decided to come in. So how was school today?"

"Boring as always!" Danny yelled from the kitchen where he'd began just collecting whatever good snacks he could find in the pantry. When he couldn't hold anymore he tossed some to Tucker, who gladly accepted. "And when were you going to introduce me to your new friend here?" Danny closed the pantry door and came back in the other room again, carrying an armful of snacks, "Oh, right, Mom, this is Sam. Sam, this is my mom."

Tucker began going upstairs carrying some of the snacks and his backpack. "Oh, so _this_ is the Sam I've heard so much about!" Danny's Mom said. Sam felt her cheeks get a little hotter, _oh god, am I blushing? Why though? That's just cringy. And awkward. It better not be noticeable._

"-OKAY we'll be upstairs working on a school project for the next few hours if you need us!" Danny exclaimed as he went to follow Tucker up the stairs. Just before following her friends upstairs Sam stopped for a moment, "It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Fenton, or, sorry but do you go by Doctor?"

She smiled, "Please, just 'Maddie' is fine. And it's nice to meet you too Sam."

When Sam made it to the top of the stairs it wasn't hard to find Danny's room, just the first door to the left. She entered and found it was actually pretty close to what she would've expected. Light blue walls, random posters littering the walls, little star stickers all over the ceiling that looked to have been there for at least ten years, and overall fairly messy. Yep. That's a typical Danny.

Out the window Sam could see the storm was still raging, with frequent flashes of light and the wind and rain beating against the window. Inside, Tucker had pulled out the papers for their school project and scattered them across the floor. All the snacks the two had carried up were also strewn about.

"So, your mom seems pretty nice" Sam commented offhandedly. To her surprise it was Tucker that answered, "That's because she was in her "Mom Mode" when you met her. When she gets into her "Ectologist/Ghost Hunter Mode" she can be pretty damn scary. Makes me glad I'm not a ghost."

Of course, Tucker didn't mean it too seriously-not in this time, at least- so, the three of them shared some laughs. Sam took off her jacket that had been soaked in the rain and sat down on the floor. After popping a few grapes in her mouth, they started on their group project…

…and two and a half hours later they didn't have nearly as much as they should've had done. The time had unintentionally been used more for talking and joking, watching stupid videos online and attempting to hack Dash Baxter's Instagram than actually getting any schoolwork done. Not that any of them had really expected anything more from themselves. The project wasn't due for another week and a half so they didn't care to worry too much about it at the moment.

By now it was nearly dark outside and it seemed the storm hadn't let up yet. A door opened downstairs followed by a loud, "Pizza's here!". About ten minutes earlier Maddie had announced she was going to pick up a pizza for dinner and had asked everyone what toppings they liked.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Tucker exclaimed, throwing his hands up for emphasis. Danny chuckled a little, "Dude, didn't you just eat like that entire bag of chips?" Tucker glanced at the empty bag of Tostitos, "There's no protein in those. Which is why I'm looking forward to that pepperoni-sausage slice of pizza." He said and promptly got up to head downstairs. Sam followed suit, "And _I_ am looking forward to that pineapple-spinach slice."

Downstairs in the kitchen Sam finally got to meet Jack and Jazz Fenton who had been downstairs in the lab and in their room reading respectively. Jack, in Sam's eyes, was everything her own father was not. Friendly, loud, and boisterous. Jazz reminded Sam a lot more of her own parents, but she still definitely seemed a lot kinder than them.

As they all began to finish their slices and the leftovers were put away, Jack suggested something that would soon change much of how Sam thought.

"So, do you kids want to see what we've been working on recently?"

Jazz picked up a few textbooks off the counter and headed towards the stairs, "Not me, I've got homework to do that's due next week."

Danny was about to come up with an excuse for the three of them when Tucker came in, "And have the chance to see some _brand_ _new_ Fenton Tech? Heck yeah!" Danny barely resisted the urge to facepalm as the trio found themselves getting whisked away to the lab.

Sam found that she had to fight not to gape at the lab they'd just entered. Everything looked to be cutting edge technology. _The top_ of the line. Half the stuff she saw in there, she didn't even know was possible yet. There was nearly one whole wall that was covered in various sleek looking models of different ectoguns. On the other side of the room were a few counter spaces full of notes, beakers, and test tubes. However, despite how interesting these other things may look, there was really _one_ thing that truly stole Sam's attention.

There was a rather large hole on the back wall where loads of wires were twisting around in every direction inside it. Looking closely one could also see a multitude of small flashing lights lining the walls, ceiling and floor of it. All in all, it looked like something straight out of some crazy sci fi movie.

"Okay… _wow_ …" Sam said breathlessly, finally admitting defeat in that she couldn't deny this was pretty cool. Neither Jack nor Maddie seemed to take much notice of the goth's astonishment and instead waved the three over to where Jack was holding a small device.

"This baby right here is our newest model of the Portable Ecto-Detector. It can tell you where any rank ghost within a mile radius of you is _and_ give you an approximation of its ranking." Jack said, showing off a handheld device with some unidentifiable buttons, a screen and a funky looking antenna.

"I thought you already had something to do that." Danny said, not sounding so impressed. Jack didn't hesitate even a moment, "Oh we do! But you see son, we've been using the satellites on the op's center to locate ghosts around the city in the past. Now with _this_ ," he gestured to the machine, "We can find them from anywhere in the city!" Maddie chose that moment to add, "So now when we're going after a ghost, we can both go and help each other out, instead of one of us having to stay here to keep tracking its location."

Tucker was practically drooling over the device at this point, "How does it work? Atmospheric testing? Energy wave detection?!"

"All good ideas, but not exactly. It uses a type of sonar using a very specific wavelength only affected by ectoplasmic properties." Jack said.

Tucker's jaw dropped even further, " _Sweet…"_

"Exactly. We're still working out some of the bugs, but using this entity we've been able to get most of the major programming done." Maddie said gesturing to- _oh my god I didn't even see there was a ghost sitting there,_ Sam thought.

It was a tiny little thing really, barely holding onto any sort of form. It looked more like a floating glob of glowing green jelly with eyes and a mouth. it was contained within a clear cube sitting on the counter and as he floated around within the box Sam noticed he appeared almost like he was limping, if that was even possible. _Poor little guy…_

"Yes, it looks like we might have to file a request for a new test subject from the GIW. This one doesn't look like it will last much longer." Maddie said casually.

"So…you're gonna release this guy back into the Ghost Zone to heal, right?" Sam asked hesitantly. The way Maddie had talked about him…there was something unsettling about it to Sam, which was further confirmed by Maddie's next response.

She chuckled a bit, "Oh, Sam…well it's good to know you're a sensitive type of person-" _Wait, what? What is she talking about?_ "-But really, you should know that these creatures, they aren't like people. They're imitations, mirror images even, of past life. They can't feel any real pain, only create illusions of a response to it."

Sam's mind was scattered. Here she was, listening to one of the world's leading ghost hunters and ectologists, spewing out facts about the beings that invaded their town on a daily basis, and all she could remember was that night.

 _A child ghost had been spotted in the mall. Sam was nine years old at the time, with her parents and Grandma Ida at the mall. She remembered seeing some people in suits running past, pulling out shiny silver guns, running down the escalator. She remembered seeing the ghost twisted up and caught in some special net. She remembered seeing a face so similar to her own, yet so different as their features were twisted into a horror filled shock. She remembered she saw the first agent fire their gun. She remembered the pain filled screams that echoed throughout the entirety of the mall as her parents forcefully dragged her away from the scene._

"So you're just gonna let him die just because he can't feel it?" Sam eventually asked, still watching the little glob creature limp around in the air. "Well, you see it can't truly die seeing as it's not even alive in the first place. It will fade out of existence, but die? Not possible." Maddie said with an almost eerie sense of calm.

There was a short silence during which Sam could feel the eyes of her two best friends on her. Another bolt of lightning struck nearby and the thunder practically shook the whole house. A few of the lights flickered for a fraction of a second, however, most of the ones in the basement stayed steady. After a thousand thoughts ran through her head, Sam came to a bit of a realization and her amethyst eyes narrowed slightly.

Her two friends seemed to have caught on because not a moment later they were making up excuses for the three of them to go back upstairs. They didn't talk about what happened. Not that day.

Sam found herself distracted the rest of the evening. She couldn't focus on anything else. Not the game of Doomed they'd decided to play for a while, not when she got a ride back home, not even as she found herself sitting alone in her room with only the sound of the storm outside to comfort her.

The next day at school she nearly got caught on her phone five times, which wasn't that usual of behavior for her. She couldn't focus on any lessons that day, she just needed answers. During class, at lunch, and all through recess Sam scrolled through webpage after webpage only to find herself becoming more and more disgusted by people she'd originally been told were geniuses and heroes.

By the end of that week her view of ghost hunters had shifted entirely, and she wasn't going to put up with it anymore.

* * *

 **A/N: OMG This one was a whopping 3300 words! I only meant for it to be around 2000 but I just kept writing and writing and writing XD oh well, I'm glad it turned out longer than I expected.**

 **So, what do you all think about the trio character wise? Like, do you think I've written their characters somewhat right? (please consider this is also an AU so they will be slightly different) But do they feel like themselves, or do I need to tweak it a bit? Do their interactions feel natural enough? This is my first time actually writing for the DP Phandom, so I'd like to know what you all think! :)**

 **GOOD NEWS! We're getting REALLY close to the biggest turning point! This next chapter is going to be pretty much the last sense of normalcy before all the** _ **real**_ **craziness begins.**

 **UP NEXT: There's just two weeks left until the trio start their first year of high school and they're trying to make the most of it.**

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time!**


	14. Chapter 13

Thank you Zela Night and Lexosaurus for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad you're both enjoying it! :)

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Chapter 13

 **Summer's Nearing End**

 _Summary: There's just two weeks left until the trio start their first year of high school, and they're trying to make the most of it._

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Just two weeks. That was all that remained before summer break would be over and freshman year of high school would begin.

Tucker scowled at the envelope he held in his hands. It was as if it only existed to remind him of how fast the summer had gone. _At least it was a good one_ , he thought to himself. He and his two best friends had gotten to spend a lot of time together and were now closer than ever they'd ever been before. They'd done a lot, from swimming to camping to just hanging out in general, it was a summer worth remembering.

Sam had accidentally revealed that she was _hella_ loaded one time when Tucker and Danny had swung by her house to pick her up before they went down to the Nasty Burger. Apparently she hadn't been thinking when she told them her address and didn't realize what she'd done until it was too late. But no matter, it didn't change a thing about the close bond the three of them shared.

Tucker snapped back into the real world, got into his mom's car, and put the envelope on the dashboard as he pulled on his seatbelt. Angela pulled the car out of the parking space she'd been waiting in and turned onto the main road, away from Casper High School. "So, what classes did you get this year?" she asked her son as they came to a stop at the streetlight.

Tucker inwardly sighed and took the envelope back into his hands. The front was plain except for the generic sticker with his full name printed on it.

 _Tucker Maurice Foley_

 _Grade: 9_

He turned it over and opened the seal before pulling out the papers inside, the majority being boring registration papers, fees and whatnot. The paper on top was the only one that held any real interest to Tucker at the moment as he took it and read over it. "I got the basic stuff, English 1, chemistry, algebra 1 and geometry _honors_. Don't know which ones will be first semester."

Angela raised an eyebrow, "So that there isn't your real schedule yet?" Tucker shook his head, "No, we get that on the first day. This just says what classes we'll have in no specific order." Angela nodded in understanding before asking, "What electives did you get this year? Hopefully you at least got into computer programming. I know how much you were looking forward to that class."

Tucker grinned, "Matter of fact, I did. I got computer programming, media tech, PE, and marketing for electives this year." Angela smiled a bit, "Four out of eight of your classes are electives? Seems you've got it made!"

"Yeah, _this year._ Next year's gonna be harder since I'll have to do my world language credit then." Tucker sighed. "Well, that's good. Gives you this year to get used to high school before it gets too difficult."

"Yeah, guess so."

Tucker pulled out his phone and snapped a quick picture of his class list to send to the group chat. He looked out the car window for some time on their drive home. In the distance Tucker caught sight of something green flash through the sky. Angela had apparently seen it too as she bent down a little to watch ahead with slightly wider eyes. "Tuck, honey, do you mind putting the radio on?" He nodded and pressed the button before going straight to 44.9, the EER, or Ecto Emergency Radio.

"-and we've just received word of a new attack near 34th and Maple. Yes, that's 34th Street and Maple. We highly recommend you avoid the area if possible. The threat seems to be low rank; however, you can never be too cautious with these things. From news channels in the area we are able to tell…" Angela turned the volume down a bit, having heard what she needed to. "Well, looks like we're gonna have to take a little detour."

Tucker sighed and leaned back in his seat, "Man, I was supposed to be meeting the others in five minutes!" Angela just shrugged and shook her head, "Ghosts. What're you gonna do?"

"Yeah, if only we lived in some other _normal_ town that doesn't get attacked by the supernatural everyday." he said bitterly. "Well, you know your Pa and I chose to come here for the career opportunities and quite frankly it's been working out well for us. We're able to provide for the family and that's what matters." Angela said. "I think you mean _Dad_ came here for the career. You could probably get a job at any hospital in Illinois." Tucker reminded her. Angela quirked a small smile, "Yes, maybe so. But Amity Park aint so bad once you get used to it. Even got some of the lowest crime rates in the country."

Tucker had to agree there. He wondered briefly if it was perhaps because people worried more about the supernatural attacks than anything some humans might try. _Or maybe it's because there seems to be government officials around every corner these days,_ he thought.

The drive back home ended up taking at least fifteen minutes longer than it should've with the detour they had to take to avoid the attack. They'd listened to the news report on the way to hear that thankfully no got hurt at this particular occurrence and that the GIW agents on the scene were able to detain the threat.

By the time Tucker made it to the park near his house to meet up with his friends, he was about a half hour late. "Well, well, look who decided to finally show up." Sam said from the park bench where she was sitting with Danny and a big black and purple bag with some towels in it. "Shut up. We had to take a detour because of an attack." Tucker said, carrying his own towel under one of his arms. "Another one? In broad daylight?" Danny asked. "Yeah, but I don't think it was a major one or anything. Apparently the GIW handled it pretty quick." Tucker said, but immediately found himself regretting saying the last part.

"Oh, well that's just _fantastic,_ isn't it?" Sam growled, "Because killing, torturing, and experimenting on every ghost they can find, innocent or not, will _definitely_ make them stop terrorizing the town." She clenched her fists, "I _still_ don't get it. Why do both of you guy's parents even keep working for those monsters?!"

Tucker raised his hands up in surrender, "Hey, my dad's only a technician there. He doesn't have anything to do with whatever missions and experiments they do. Plus, the salary is a pretty nice number." Sam just continued to scowl.

"My parents just hate anything with ectoplasm."

Sam turned her glare onto Danny. "What? It's not like I'm actually on _their_ side. Neither is Jazz."

A bit of her anger fled her, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I can't blame you guys." Tucker chose then to flip the direction of the conversation, "So, we're still going to the waterpark, right?"

A couple of hours later the trio found themselves taking a break under an umbrella on the grass. The late afternoon sun in August had worn them all out after some time of going on various waterslides or sitting in the wave pool. "Y'know, I still think Maximum Velocity is _the_ best slide here." Tucker said. Danny smirked, "What? No way dude, Mammoth Falls is definitely a way bigger drop."

Tucker pointed to his best friend, "Yeah. _Drop._ As in singular. Maximum Velocity has like seven drops and goes _way_ faster!" Sam raised an eyebrow at the two, "Think what you like, but I still say the clear winner here is Tornado."

"Because it's mostly in the dark?"

"Because it's mostly in the dark."

Danny suddenly remembered something, "Hey Tuck, what classes did you get this year?" Tucker adjusted his red beret, which had gotten soaked on the last slide they went on, "You didn't check the group chat?" Danny shook his head, "Nope. Left my phone at home."

Tucker pulled his own phone out, of course he had a totally waterproof case on it, and opened the picture he'd sent, zooming in to read it again. "I think all three of us have the same core classes this year, English 1, chemistry, algebra 1 and geometry honors?" Upon receiving two nods he went on to recite his electives.

"Nope. Well, I've got PE, but we'd only see each other if we have it at the same time and still only on days we happen to do coed." Sam sighed. "I've got PE and media tech. Dunno if we'll get in the same classes though." Danny said.

Tucker closed his phone, "At least there's a good chance we'll get some of our harder classes together, plus lunch hour." The other two agreed quietly. Sam noticed her stomach growl and dug into her bag to pull out some celery sticks and peanut butter. Danny noticed and raised an eyebrow, "I thought you weren't supposed to bring food in the park." Sam smirked and dipped a piece of celery in the little cup of peanut butter she'd opened, "You're not. But honestly, who's gonna care enough to come stop me? Besides, they only made that rule so that when people got hungry, they'd have to buy food from the park." Danny just shook his head and laughed quietly.

For the next five minutes the trio were quiet. Tucker had started playing a game on his phone, Danny was nearly asleep, and Sam just ate her snack, enjoying the peace. Unfortunately, it was broken when Sam caught sight of a group of loud jocks walking somewhat in their direction, although they obviously hadn't noticed any of the trio. Sam nudged Danny, who peeked one eye open at her. "Your favorite person's here." she said and pointed with her eyes. Danny followed her line of sight and groaned, "Why does Dash always seem to have a knack of showing up whenever we got out in public?" he asked.

"Relax. He probably won't even notice us. Or if he does he'll probably just ignore us. This is _way_ to public of a place for him to try and beat you up." Tucker reasoned once he'd caught on to what the others were talking about. "I hope you're right." Danny murmured and put his head back down, closing his eyes once more, although it was obvious to them he wasn't actually asleep.

As the group passed by Tucker looked through the different faces. Dash, Kwan, Jacob, DJ, some faces he recognized but couldn't put a name to, plus a couple he'd never seen before. The group was loud, constantly horsing around, and swearing quite audibly. Fortunately, none of them seemed to take notice of the trio as they strolled by, likely headed towards the Tornado waterslide.

Five or so minutes later Sam had finished her snack but the three continued to just be lazy for a while more. The shadow of the umbrella had shifted a bit since they'd all sat down for a break, leaving a part of Sam's leg exposed to the hot late afternoon sun. Honestly though, it was a beautiful day the trio had chosen to use their season passes to the waterpark for one of the last times.

"We aren't gonna split up once high school starts, are we?" Tucker asked seemingly out of the blue. Danny, however, having known him for so long, could tell this question must have been weighing on him for a while. His blueish green eyes were dull and his mouth was creased into a small frown. "Tuck, our friendship has lasted since we were infants. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon and I kind of doubt she is either." Danny said, gesturing towards Sam at the end. Sam grinned, "Nope. You're stuck with us."

Tucker smiled a little and shrugged, "We're probably gonna have pretty different schedules, plus there'll be a lot of new people from different elementary schools…chances are at least one of us will start getting more and more distant until we'd just stop talking anymore. We probably won't even notice it's happening till it's too late."

Sam scoffed, "Alright, I'm the observant one here so from now on _I'll_ make sure that doesn't happen, got it?" Danny rolled his eyes in amusement, "Tuck, really, don't worry. We'll still at least have lunch together every day. Sam and I aren't going anywhere, promise."

Tucker nodded feeling slightly reassured. He was determined not to lose either of the two closest friends he had. He didn't know what he'd do without them. _But they are right_ , he thought, _who says high school has to change that?_ That summer had brought them closer than they'd ever been. True that in two weeks would be the start of a new chapter, but they'd still be the same people with the same friendship, now and forevermore.

* * *

 **A/N: The normalcy train is now leaving the station.**

 **Shoutout to anyone who can figure out the meaning/importance of using the number 44.9 as the Ecto Emergency Radio station! Give your best guess in the review section! Good luck! :)**

 **Also, fun fact: those waterslide I used are real. I've been on them, they're at a waterpark nearby XD There's also videos of them up on YouTube as well in case you're wondering what I was talking about in here.**

 **UP NEXT:** Between his parent finishing up their biggest project and the sudden abundance of weirdly connected dreams, Danny's having a pretty stressful week.

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	15. Chapter 14

Lots of wonderful reviews on the last chapter! Thank you all and here are the replies!

 **wiseguy2415:** haha, yeah me neither, but hey, that's the Phandom for ya! XD

 **Zela Night:** Lol! Gotta love the irony, right? XD

 **Guest:** BINGO! Ahh, you're review had me grinning like stupid. XD Your guess was spot on! I'm glad you remembered that bit from earlier and were able to connect the dots! Also, thank you! :)

 **Pheek:** Ahh yes, the irony…XD glad you're enjoying it, and thanks! :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** omgomgomgomgomg I fangirled for like five minutes when I saw you read and reviewed my story! XD I'm a big fan of your DP fics and got a lot of inspiration from you! (Seriously, The Survivalists is like my all time favorite DP fic XD ) But yes, I did include quite a bit of foreshadowing in there, poor Tucker… I'm so glad you've enjoyed it so far! I'm still freaking out a bit XD I feel so honored that you read my story, so, thank you! :)

* * *

Chapter 14

 **Foreboding Feelings**

 _Summary: Between his parents finishing up their biggest project and the sudden abundance of weirdly connected dreams, Danny's having a pretty stressful week._

* * *

It was just past seven o'clock when Danny finally got home from the afternoon with his friends at the waterpark. He'd seen the government cars outside the house so it was no surprise when he saw his mom talking to an agent in the kitchen while his dad and the others were making a racket downstairs in the lab.

The agent Maddie was talking to was one Danny happened to recognize, Agent K, also known as John Kelvin, the GIW executive who'd been overseeing the portal project for the past seven years. Maddie walked back from the counter towards the agent as she extended a cup of fresh coffee to him, which he generously accepted. She was just about to take a sip of her own cup when she noticed her son standing in the doorway.

"Danny! You're home! How was it today? Did you have dinner already?" Maddie asked, knowing K wouldn't really mind the interruption. _Besides, family always comes first,_ she thought to herself.

Danny dropped his bag by the door and slipped off his red converse, "Uh, it was fun. We had dinner at Tuck's when we got back." He headed towards the living room because that couch just looked so nice right now as he heard his mom shout about there being leftovers in the fridge in case he got hungry or something.

Once he finally made it to the couch he plopped himself down and picked up his phone that'd he'd left there. He checked the group chat to see if either Sam or Tucker had sent anything but all he found was the picture that Tucker had told him he'd sent earlier of his class list. Danny sighed a little and set his phone down on the coffee table to instead pick up the TV remote. When the screen flickered on it was no surprise to find it had been left on the Ghost Watch channel the last time it had been used. Danny wanted to change the channel but found himself instead deciding on listening for a moment to the interview that was airing. The well known redheaded reporter, Tiffany Snow, was on and seemed to be hosting a debate between two others with opposing views. At the bottom of the screen the banner read, "GIW PROPOSES NEW ANTI-ECTO LAWS TO SUPREME COURT" Danny grimaced just imagining what Sam's reaction would be like.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get those through the system. They'll protect a lot of people."

Danny had nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance of the deep voice behind him. K must have noticed his flinch because he grinned, "Scare ya?" Danny glanced up behind him at the agent and turned back to the TV, "Didn't know you were standing there" he mumbled, cringing slightly when he felt a strong hand rest on his shoulder. "Say, did your parents tell you the big news?" K asked. Danny thought for a moment then shook his head no. "No? Thought they would be more enthusiastic about it." The teen just shrugged, "They're probably just too busy. So, what's the news?"

K grinned and rubbed his chin, "Well…the portal. Its due to be finished by the end of this week." Danny's eyes widened a bit, "After all this time...?" K nodded, and was about to say more when his phone started ringing, "I've got to take this, see you later kiddo."

With that, Agent K left the room leaving Danny alone again. The TV was still on, but Danny paid little mind to it. It was almost unbelievable. The portal was actually going to be done. It seemed as if that project had always just been one of the constants in life, seeing as it had begun when Danny was just seven years old. He briefly wondered about what his parents were going to do when it _was_ done…

 _The sky was black and there was no moon. He was standing in the corner of a busy intersection but time was crawling at a turtle's pace. Bright street lights and the headlights of cars were everywhere. There in the center, two cars had collided. Shrapnel flew but it couldn't touch him. One of the cars flipped over. There was gasoline leaking from the car. The other car was smoking. There were flames and gasoline and there was a kid crying inside the upturned car..._

Danny's eyes shot open expecting to see flames and a brutal car crash. He was greeted by the darkness of his room. His heartbeat was fast as he glanced around the room some more. On the bedside table a clock read 12:07 in red digits. When he peered out the window his eyes were treated by the sight of a waning crescent moon. He breathed out a sigh of relief upon realizing it'd just been a bad dream. _But why'd I have a dream about watching a car crash?_ Danny shook his head and decided to go get some water downstairs.

Even though it was past midnight at this point, it seemed nothing had changed downstairs. Everyone was still working away on the portal resulting in the occasional loud crashes. Danny walked into the kitchen and winced from the bright light before grabbing a cup from the cabinet. He filled it up and took a sip before overhearing his mom talking down in the lab.

"I don't understand it. All the samples of ectoplasm we have seem to have suddenly become hyperactive. Their energy output is ranking at an average 1.7!" Danny didn't really know what his mom was talking about exactly, but for some foreign, completely unintelligible reason he felt it was significant.

Later when he finally fell back asleep he expected to simply fall into another dreamless state, but of course that wouldn't be the case this time.

 _He was on top of one of the tallest skyscrapers in downtown Amity Park. He wasted no time as he ran towards the rail and looked down into complete chaos. The city was practically a warzone. Humans fighting against ghosts and ghosts fighting against other ghosts. He stumbled back away from the rail in a horrified shock and turned around to a huge demonic looking ghost perched upon the building's sturdy antenna. He wanted to scream but barely had the breath for it. The ghost looked almost bat like as it snarled with narrowed blood red glowing eyes. Lightning struck behind the beast and that was all the motivation he needed to turn and run, but the moment he turned around, he came face to face with two glowing, toxic green orbs. The moment lasted barely a fraction of a second and was the last thing he saw before being thrown back into the conscious world…_

This time Danny awoke with more of a start, shooting up out of bed with a small yelp. His breathing was ragged and fast as he tried to get a hold of himself. The little digital clock now read 6:23. _Well, at least it's morning now,_ he thought. "…the hell was that?" he whispered to himself. _Two weird dreams like that in one night?_ "Maybe all of mom and dad's craziness is just finally getting to me." he reasoned.

Unfortunately, the weirdness didn't end there. Danny found that nearly every time he went to sleep he'd be plagued by strange, senseless, and sometimes terrifying dreams.

 _He didn't know where they were. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were here with him. "Danny!" Sam called. He smiled and ran towards her until he saw her features twist with disgust, "What are you doing here?" she asked bitterly. He was taken aback, "What? What do you mean? You're my fr-" Sam backed up, "No. We're not. We were Danny's friends. Just who do you think you are?" he felt shocked and confused as he turned to Tucker, hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to listen to the same things from him. "You're not human dude. You just think you are." He just stood there, gaping at his friends. Eventually he looked down at his hands only to find he had white gloves on. "What?" he asked quietly. "Danny's dead." Tucker said, "and soon, so will you be." Tucker pulled out an ectogun and aimed it at him. "Wha-? NO WAIT!"_

"No, wait!" Danny yelled as his eyes shot open once again. He sat up in his bed and felt something wet roll down his cheek. Reaching up he wiped it away and looked at it. "Just another nightmare." he said quietly to himself, "They'd never do anything like that."

It was after five days had passed that Jazz started to notice her brother acting differently. The two of them were sitting at the table for breakfast and Jazz looked him over. He showed signs of dark circles forming under his eyes and respectively was found resting his head on his arm while he aimlessly stirred his cereal.

"Have you not been sleeping well lately?" Jazz finally asked. Danny peered up at her for a moment, "Jus' been havin' some weird dreams." Jazz raised an eyebrow, "Like what?" Danny mumbled something and shrugged, "None of your business."

Jazz sighed and turned the page of her book, "Alright whatever. Remember that later tonight I think mom and dad are going to try to start up the portal. You might want to do like me and get out of the house for the evening."

"Uh huh, I've already got plans to spend the day at Tucker's."

* * *

 **A/N: The ending was a little rushed and the chapter was a bit shorter than I'd like, but oh well. :)**

 **UP NEXT:** It's the day Maddie's been waiting for. Time to test the portal she and her husband have been devoting all their time to.

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	16. Chapter 15

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Pheek:** Possibly… ;) Glad you're enjoying it so far!

 **Unlucky Alis:** Aaaahhhh I'm so excited! XD Seriously, The Survivalist is an AWESOME story you've got there. And don't worry, it'll be explained later on ;) I'm really glad you're enjoying it thus far! :)

 **Zela Night:** Lol, so am I XD

 **Poksie:** That is a very good guess ;)

* * *

Chapter 15

 **Teatime for Scientists and Doctors Alike**

 _Summary: It's the day Maddie's been waiting a very long time for._

* * *

It was just past one in the afternoon and for once the Fenton household was quiet, well, mostly. The sound of the teapot boiling in the kitchen was the only real noise to disrupt the house on this day. Jack had gone out to get the very long list of groceries Maddie had made for him while Danny and Jazz had both escaped to their friends' houses for the day. That left the house to Maddie, who'd invited one of her own good friends over for a cup of tea before her shift started.

"So do you really think it's going to work?" Angela Foley asked her friend. The teapot clicked off and Maddie went to pour two cups, "Hopefully it will. We've triple and quadruple checked _every_ calculation. Theoretically, it _should_ work." Angela nodded, "Let's say it does work, what happens then? Or does that fall under the category of top secret government stuff you can't tell anyone about?"

Maddie smiled in amusement, "No, no secret. I suppose we'll start simply by testing the environment of the Ghost Zone." she said. "You planning on using drones or something for that? I mean, do we even know if there's any oxygen in there?" Angela asked. "From observing them we can say that theoretically, yes, there'd be oxygen in their natural environment, but yeah, we were planning to use drones until we can be sure it's safe for a human." Maddie replied.

Angela turned back to the two cups of tea and pulled the teabags out of both, placing them in the trash as Maddie got the milk out of the fridge. She poured a bit into both cups, changing them from dark to light. Angela picked up her cup and stirred it a bit before taking the spoon out and putting it in the sink while Maddie did the same, but added a pinch of sugar to sweeten it up.

"It's hard to wrap my mind around there being a whole other world out there that's just full of these ghosts. Sure, y'all see natural portals 'round the clock but…" Angela trailed off, lost in deep thought, "What'd you think it looks like there?"

Maddie was almost taken aback by the simple question. Out of all the questions she'd ever received about her knowledge on the ghostly world, she'd never had to answer one like that. The questions she'd always get were 'How big is it?', 'How many ghosts live there?', 'Do they have an atmosphere?' or even 'Would a human turn into a ghost if they went there?'. She was never asked what it looks like.

"Um…I…I don't know…Suppose we'll find out, huh?"

"Yeah…"

Maddie took another sip of her tea, "Honestly, I'm just hoping it's going to help us figure out a solution to the whole ghost issue." Angela nodded slowly, "Do you think the ghosts would have, oh, I don't know, some form of government? Or even a monarchy maybe?" Maddie laughed causing Angela to raise an eyebrow. "I'm sorry," she said, still laughing slightly, "it's just- well, have you ever been at a ghost attack? They're mindless. They don't have a conscience. There's no way they'd be able to form any kind of civilization. They're also extremely selfish creatures. They wouldn't care enough to ever even help each other unless it would result in their own personal gain."

Angela processed this new information. She knew the ghosts that attacked their town were evil and often mindless, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that every last one of them was all bad, after all, apparently, there was a whole other world full of them. If there _did_ happen to be any type of law in the Ghost Zone, wouldn't it be so much easier if they could at least try to make peace with them? Angela decided to keep her own opinion on ghosts quiet for now however, it wouldn't do any good to get into an argument with her best friend one of the few times they've been able to get together.

Maddie sighed, "During this whole project, I've been doing it in hopes that our kids wouldn't have to be as accustomed to daily ghost attacks as we are. Looks like we're a little late for that though." Angela smiled slightly, "Maybe so, but if we can't change things for our children, I say we can at least still try to change them for our grandchildren." Angela said and drank some more of her tea. Maddie's eyes brightened a bit as she smiled, "You're right Ang. You're damn right."

* * *

 **Proud Inventors, Try Again Later**

 _Summary: The time has finally come for Maddie and Jack to test the portal they've both been devoting all their time to, but things don't quite go as planned._

* * *

Switches were flipped and dials were turned as the low hum of electricity grew stronger. The room was filled with at least thirty people ranging from scientists, to engineers, to GIW agents. Everyone who had been directly involved with the portal project was now crammed into the Fenton's lab to watch, what they were hoping would be a scientific breakthrough.

Maddie looked around the room once more before her eyes landed on one Greg Axel, the director of the GIW. She felt her stomach twist from anxiety as she silently prayed that the testing would go alright. First impressions had always been very important to Maddie, she couldn't bear to think of how embarrassing it would be if their first impression on the director of the GIW was that of a complete failure.

Maddie's husband, Jack, however, was having different thoughts. He remembered the first time they'd tried to build a portal to the Ghost Zone and how horribly wrong it'd gone. The stabilizing barrier had faltered when they'd tried to start it up, resulting in his old buddy, Vlad, getting an ectoblast straight to the face. He ended up with a nasty case of Ecto-Acne that'd landed him in the hospital for quite some time.

When he looked around the room Jack noticed how many people were standing within just three feet of the portal and chose to do something about it, in case something was to go wrong like the last time. "Alright people, I might want to suggest everyone take a few steps back from the portal." Jack said. Maddie smiled at her husband's thinking and added, "Just to be on the safe side."

Everyone seemed to agree and shifted back further from the big hole in the wall. Greg Axel stole a glance at his watch, "May we get this demonstration started now, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? I do have a very tight schedule today." he said, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. The two Fentons agreed and plugged in what they thought would be the last thing before they flipped the main switch.

Everyone watched in fascination as the portal began to whirl to life. Lights flickered inside on all the walls and small sparks began to fly. Breaths hitched all through the room as the electricity began to form a spiral, but one person knew at that moment, something wasn't right.

Maddie watched as the energy nearly finished its rotation, a frown gracing her lips. The electric was still raw. The bolts were still a pure white color. She knew something had gone wrong, she knew the purified ectoplasm should have already begun to mix with the raw electricity. Problem was, it hadn't. There was not even a trace of ectoplasm being released into the system meaning-

Just as she'd thought, the electric bolts fizzled out until there were only sparks left behind. Maddie let out the breath she'd been holding in a sigh. At least she had an idea of what could've gone wrong, maybe they'd still be able to get it working with a few more adjustments. However, the thing that was upsetting was the fact that this had been their chance to _truly_ prove themselves to the GIW. Of course, science is full of trial and error, but Maddie had really been hoping this time. She caught sight of Director Axel and took in the disappointment written on his face, triggering some unwanted thoughts to fly into her head. _What if the GIW doesn't want to work with us anymore? Would they pull out of their funding contract because of this failure?_

"We must've made a small calculation or programming error somewhere. And we were so sure it would work..." Jack said dejectedly. Maddie sent him a small smile, "I think I know where our mistake might've been if we could just have a little more time." she said, looking to Director Axel, who narrowed his eyes in concentration. "This project will receive the funds it need for two more weeks. If it's not successful by then we'll be forced to abandon it. We've already gone over the budget we had set for this project."

Maddie felt slightly relieved. She had confidence they'd be able to fix it by then, even if it meant some more late nights up. "Thank you. I have faith we'll be able to get it up and running by then." she said. Director Axel nodded respectfully, "I'm counting on it."

A couple of hours later everyone had left except, of course, Maddie and Jack. The two of them sat together on the couch going over some ideas when Danny finally came home. "So…did it work?" he asked somewhat hesitantly. "No, not this time son, but we're still going to try and find wherever it is we went wrong." Jack answered.

Before Danny was able to disappear upstairs Maddie remembered something, "Oh yeah, Danny!" she called. He paused on the stairs, "What?"

"Just reminding you, both of us are taking Jazz downtown tomorrow to tour those two colleges, did you want to come with us?" Maddie asked hopefully. She imagined it'd be nice to finally get some quality family time with how crazy everything had been lately. However, much to her disappointment he said he'd rather stay home. "Are you sure? We'll probably be out all day. We were going to grab some lunch on the way, then it'll likely be another five or six hours. We were talking about maybe going out for a family dinner afterwards as well…?" Maddie wished that'd be enough to convince him, but that wasn't the case. "Um, yeah. I'd really rather stay here if that's ok." he said.

Maddie sighed, but she understood. Spending a whole day touring colleges on one of the last days of summer break likely wouldn't pique the interest of _any_ average fourteen year old boy. "Well, alright. We're gonna get going around eleven, in case you change your mind by then." she said and watched as he nodded and vanished upstairs.

She heard his door shut and sighed, "We really should try to do more as a family, Jack." He just beamed at her, "Then that's what we'll do! And once this portal is done we'll finally have more time to do that." he said sounding ever like the optimist he was. "I suppose…" Maddie said, "Damn those ghosts for making us lose time for our own children." she finished bitterly. "Yeah, to hell with them, but we shouldn't let 'em get us down, now should we?"

Maddie looked into her husband's eyes, a beautiful blue gray color. They just held so much life within them, she found it hard not to smile. "I love you." she said quietly and hugged him close. "I love you too sweetcakes." he said simply and kissed her forehead.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry if you all were expecting the accident to be in this chapter, but I had to do these two little pieces first. Plus, I'll just let you all know now, the next chapter will be my FINAL build up chapter.**

 **I decided to combine these two parts because they seemed to kind of go together. They both follow Maddie and they're both set on the same day and have to do with the same thing so…yeah. The next chapter will be another joint one as well, but the two parts will be a bit more different from each other than these two were.**

 **UP NEXT:** _A random machine in your parent's basement isn't supposed to call your name, is it? And when Johnny gets a visit from Clockwork he and the Doc find themselves in a race against time._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	17. Chapter 16

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Zela Night:** haha! You'll see in this chapter! :)

 **wiseguy2415:** That is correct ;)

 **PurpleSnow12:** Glad you like it :)

 **Pheek:** haha, yes it is :)

 **MonsterousThings:** :)

 **WolfMistwood:** haha yes it is XD

* * *

Chapter 16

 **The Voice in The Basement**

 _Summary: A random machine in your parent's basement isn't supposed to call your name, is it?_

* * *

It was around 9am when Danny woke up to either his parents or Jazz calling him. Of course, they'd all been up and ready to go already, even though they didn't plan on leaving for another two hours. He groaned and stretched his arms. He'd had another peculiar dream that night, but this time all he'd seen in it was neon green electricity. _When are all these weird dreams ever going to stop?_ He asked himself.

Although the thought of staying in bed for a while more seemed pleasant, Danny soon found himself stretching and walking towards the door. When he opened it, he found his mom close by, putting away some clean bath towels in the hallway closet. "Good morning sleepyhead." Maddie said when she'd heard the door open. "'Morning." Danny replied groggily, "Did someone call my name?" Maddie thought for a second, "No, I don't think so. Why?" He shrugged, "Jus' thought I heard someone, it was probably something else."

As he made his way down the stairs, Maddie called to him, "There's some extra bacon on the stove if you want!" Danny smiled, "Cool, thanks Mom!"

As promised, there was a plate with about seven strips of bacon left, sitting on the stove. Whoever was cooking must've made too much on accident. Danny grabbed a plate with a bagel and a few pieces of bacon and sat down at the kitchen table. Not a moment later, Jazz came in with her red hair in a messy bun and no makeup. "I thought you'd be all ready to go by now." Danny said casually. Jazz looked at him, "We're not leaving for another two hours." she said and opened the fridge, pulling out an iced tea drink. "Yeah, but aren't you always super early for like, everything?" Danny asked her. "Aren't _you_ always super _late_ for like, everything?" she countered with a smile and left the room, drink in hand.

" _Daniel."_

It was faint, barely audible and spoken in a whispered tone, but Danny had no idea what to make of it. Was it even real? Or maybe it was really something else that just happened to kind of sound like his name. He shook his head figuring if it _was_ somebody and if it was important, they'd just call again.

Around an hour and a half later Danny had fully convinced himself his mind had just been playing tricks with him and that it wasn't actually his name he'd heard. _Besides, who'd call me Daniel anyways?_ That is, until it happened again. This time it'd been more persistent, more audible and there was no mistaking it.

" _Daniel."_

He'd been sitting on the couch when Jazz walked by again, this time with her hair neatly pulled back and simplistic makeup. She'd also changed into a nicer blouse and a black knee length skirt.

"Hey, did you hear anything?" Danny asked his older sister, who quirked an eyebrow. "Like what?" she asked, her curiosity piqued. Danny shrugged, "I don't know, like a voice I guess. I keep thinking I'm hearing someone call my name." Jazz dawned a look of realization, then frustration, "AGH, it's this toxic home environment! Now it's getting to you too!" she exclaimed before stalking out of the room and up the stairs yelling, "Mom! Dad! When can we have a _normal_ family vacation?!"

Danny had watched her as she went off again on how their home environment was a danger to him and Jazz's psychological health, until his eyes landed on something _far_ more intriguing. That lab door looked _really_ nice for some reason right now. Was it the lighting? The bright red warnings written all over it? It's like it was nearly glowing as the rest of the world was drained of its color. Maybe if he could just touch it-

"Danny! We're leaving in just a few minutes! Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" his Mom called from upstairs where she was getting herself ready for the day. The color came rushing back into the world and the lab door looked average once again. Danny shook his head, not really knowing what had just happened, "Um, yeah! I'll just stay here!" he yelled back. He couldn't leave. He needed to stay with _it_. Needed to be _closer._ "What am I even _thinking_?" he whispered to himself.

Just about ten minutes later Danny watched as his mom, dad and sister were leaving on their way to tour some colleges downtown. "Bye Danny!" his mom called, "I have my phone, text me if you need anything!" He simply nodded and with a _click_ she closed the door behind her.

Danny shifted his attention to the TV, to whatever crime movie was on at the time, but couldn't stay focused on it for more than three minutes, when it called again.

" _Daniel?_ "

This time it was phrased as more of a question, but still held the same tone of voice. It was soft, inviting, and _very_ persuasive. _No,_ Danny thought, _don't look, don't look, DON'T LOOK._

" _Phantom."_

He looked.

The door was glowing, framed by beautiful green swirls. He didn't know why but he got up and took cautious steps towards the lab door. As he got closer to it Danny could hear the energy pulsing from it. He smiled, but then it faded, like it had run away. He had to chase it.

The handle on the door suddenly looked very shiny. He placed his hand on it and tried to open it, only to find it locked. He turned away from the door and went straight to a drawer in the kitchen. It was filled with random things, pencils, pens, paperclips, some hair elastics. They were all useless. Danny lifted one of the compartments and found a shiny spare key hidden underneath. His smile grew as he snatched it and unlocked the lab door.

The door was left ajar as Danny stood motionless in the door way. The energy was nowhere to be seen, but his eyes stayed transfixed on the large hole in the back wall. The voice came once more sounding ever so inviting.

" _Come, Phantom."_

He smiled and stepped down the stairs.

* * *

 **Trip to Death**

 _Summary: When Johnny gets a visit from Clockwork, he and the Doc find themselves in a race against time._

* * *

Johnny 13 was enjoying one of his few days off by sitting outside his and Kitty's lair, polishing his bike up once more. The two of them had just gotten back last night from a three week long mission all the way out in Sector 57 that they'd had to take the long route there and back on to avoid any skirmishes with Royalists. It had been stressful, but they were both just glad to be back now. Kitty had chosen to go out to spend the day with some of her friends leaving Johnny to have a nice relaxing day to clean up his bike from the trip, or so he'd thought.

He hadn't expected to be interrupted by a glowing blue time portal opening right in front of him. Clockwork in his child form floated out of the vortex as it closed behind him. "Hey Clocks, what's up?" Johnny asked casually. "Surely you remember the plan we discussed?" the Master of Time asked, not sparing a second for small talk. Johnny was a bit confused, "Uh, yeah, yeah I remember it. But what's that got to do with anyth-" Clockwork cut him off as he threw Johnny a shiny gold metal stopwatch with a digital countdown.

32:04…

32:03…

32:02…

Realization dawned on Johnny, "oh _shit_ " he cursed under his breath. "That is exactly how much time you have to get there with Benson. I would have given you both a fairer head start but Eligo's spell has been affecting all the ancient's abilities my own included. Now go. And remind Benson, _no Royalists find out about this._ " Johnny nodded as started up his bike's engine, "How the _hell_ am I supposed to get the Doc and make it all the way back and out to the 12th sector in thirty minutes?!" Johnny yelled over the engine. "I wish I could help but I can't. Go." Clockwork said calmly.

Johnny just nodded and drove off through the Zone at top speed. Clockwork watched as Johnny soon disappeared from view and counted off the seconds until-

"What brings you out here, Clockwork?" someone asked from behind, but he didn't need to turn around to know who it was. It was Zyra. Eligo's go to for whenever he needed a special job done, and right now, that was keeping the ancients in check, more specifically, Clockwork. Not that he'd blame them, they practically knew he favored the Alliance's views, just found his abilities too useful to be wasted.

"Anything wrong with an old man taking a morning stroll?" Clockwork asked with a bit of a smirk as he shifted to his older form, not that she could see it. He still had his back to her. "You? Yes. Who did you come here to talk to? Where did that thing you were carrying around at the council meeting go? What does it do? Tell me now or-" she was abruptly cut off when a Royalist general came flying towards her, "Zyra! Your presence has been requested by the king immediately. They say it may be about the recent quakes."

Zyra scowled, "Yes. You. Take him back to the kingdom. I believe he too might have an idea about what is happening."

Johnny pushed down harder on the gas as he sped through the infinite realms. He'd already tried to call the Doc but he unfortunately didn't pick up, meaning he'd have to waste another couple of minutes trying to find him. _Great._

His bike skidded to a halt as he jumped off and passed the security check. He ran down the stairs into the underground base, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other members and headed straight for Benson's lab there. He flung himself through the doorway, "Doc! Clockwork came, we have to leave _right now_ , less than twenty five minutes!" he yelled into the room and turned to run back out, his gray trench coat flailing in the wind. Behind him he heard what sounded like the Doc telling Youngblood not to touch anything.

Johnny kept running all the way back to the surface as he started up his bike again and checked the clock.

21:35…

21:34…

21:33…

Benson wasted no time jumping on the back seat of Johnny's bike. Johnny was just about to get going when the ground shook underneath them. Looking up they saw the streaks of ectoplasm in the sky coil and shift violently. Johnny ignored it for a second and got the two of them moving in the direction of Sector 12. Once they were going at a good speed Johnny finally asked, "What the hell was that?!"

The Doc still had his eyes glued on the sky, watching for more signs of movement. Of course, the ectoplasm in the air was _always_ moving, but it was always slow and barely noticeable, nothing like they'd just witnessed. "It's the Infinite Realms herself!" he said simply, earning a confused glance from Johnny. "Do you have any idea how crazy you just sounded?" he yelled over the sound of the wind and the engine. "It's happened once before! 'Round twenty years ago! Remember that?!" Benson yelled back.

Now that he thought about it, Johnny did vaguely remember the incident from years ago. The whole Ghost Zone had been practically vibrating. There had been some property damage in Eidolon that he'd heard about as well from all the quakes. "So the two events, they're connected?!" he asked. The Doc laughed, "In more ways than you know!" Johnny stole another glance at the clock.

06:01…

06:00…

05:59…

"Six minutes left!" Johnny yelled, "Are you planning on telling me what it is we're even looking for?!" Benson shook his head, although Johnny didn't see it, "Just head for the spot Clockwork told you!" he said.

Johnny frowned before his eyes caught sight of a bit of a problem ahead. He'd almost forgotten they'd be going right past Walker's jail. Ahead of them were two GZPD cars. Johnny winced as they sped at full speed right past them and watched in his mirror as the both turned on their lights and began coming after them. "Shadow! Attack!" he yelled and pointed behind them. The shadow creature shifted and growled before taking off after the two cars with a grin. "Almost there!" Johnny shouted before checking the clock once more

01:11…

01:10…

01:09…

It didn't take long before Johnny's shadow to return to him, having successfully made both cars break down with a bit of induced bad luck. The air pulsed once again, this time longer and more violently. Looking around Johnny saw there were some random rock formations and staircases in the area along with a lot of free moving ectoplasm. He slowed to a stop and looked around while Benson hopped off the bike.

00:03…

00:02…

00:01…

00:00.

Johnny's eyes jerked up as there was a loud whirring like all the air was being sucked away. There, no more than fifty feet away was the blazing vortex of a portal.

* * *

 **A/N: DUN DUN DDUUUUUUNNNNNNN! Welp. Here we go XD**

 **UP NEXT:** _After a shocking accident Danny's ends up unconscious on the lab floor and at the hands of two ghosts._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time!**


	18. Chapter 17

Thank you all for the super awesome reviews! Here's the replies! :)

 **Guest:** Oh shit indeed! XD

 **Pheek:** haha, yeah, sorry about that cliffhanger ':D and the portal voice thing will definitely be explained in a later chapter :) glad you like the idea! As for the rest, well, you'll see in this chapter! ;)

 **MonsterousThings:** haha, I'm with ya! I got excited just writing this XD

 **WolfMistwood:** Yes it is! At last! :D

 **Poksie:** That would be correct ;) it'll be explained a little deeper later on though :) Glad you like it!

 **wiseguy2415:** haha, yes we can, as you'll see in this chapter!

Thank you all, and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 17

 **Origin of a Halfa**

 _Summary: After a shocking accident, Danny ends up unconscious on the lab floor and at the hands of two ghosts._

* * *

Danny could not for the life of him explain what had come over him that morning. It had started off normal, just waking up and getting breakfast. But then that unearthly voice came. It called to him and led him straight down into his parent's lab and in front of their broken portal, before it suddenly fled, taking its influence with it.

Dany knew in his mind that he should be whole lot more worried about what had just happened, after all, he had been taught practically from birth to be wary of these sorts of things, especially since the signs were practically screaming ghosts, possession, and mind control. But still, even with all of whatever that thing was's influence, it still felt…right. Although, if anything bad happened from it, he knew he'd never hear the end of his parent's spiel about how to stay safe from "evil ectoplasmic entities of post human consciousness".

He looked around the room for a few seconds. Sure, he'd seen it many times by now, but he usually had tried to avoid it, especially the past few months as they'd all been finishing up their work on the portal. Being down there often meant lots of GIW personnel that either tried to talk him into joining their crazy organization when he was older, or they just told him he was in their way and shouldn't be there. Now though, it was quiet in the lab, almost unnaturally so.

In that moment, there was an odd sense of peace in the lab that Danny had never really witnessed in there before. The only noises were the soft hum of the machines and a low, distant rumble made by the ventilation system.

In front of him the mouth of the broken portal stood boldly with little lights still flashing on the inside walls. He knew he shouldn't have been there, but he couldn't help it when he reached out and brushed his fingers lightly over the cold, smooth metal that framed the large hole in the wall. Taking a step forward, Danny peered inside. There were wires and cables everywhere looking more like a big tangle of snakes than anything else. Levers and handles lined the two side walls as well as a bunch of pressure monitors and gauges. On the left wall, he noticed, there was a line of screens with readings of various things. They nearly all had a little green wavering bar on it, except for one. It was near the back and had a tiny bar wavering in the red zone. There was a little label above the reading, but Danny was unable to read what it said from his place outside the portal.

After thinking for just a moment he decided it'd be harmless to just go read what the label said. The portal didn't even work anyways. He took a breath and stepped cautiously inside, avoiding all the wires tangled up on the floor.

The portal itself was only about eight or nine feet long, but seeing as the only lights that were actually on in the lab were the lamps by the counter spaces and tabletops, it was rather dark inside. In the portal, all the little lights on screens and such were still on, but provided very little actual lighting.

When he finally made it to the back of the portal, having successfully evaded all the wires, Danny found the small screen with the red bar and read above it.

 _Ectoplasmic Release Systems: Offline_

 _Huh,_ Danny thought, _I wonder if that might be stopping it from running…but Mom's pretty thorough, she probably checked all these little things already._ He shrugged and took a step to leave, but was too caught up in his own thoughts to remember the wires that littered the floor.

Danny's shoe got hooked underneath one of the arched cables and it tripped him. On instinct, he reached his right hand out towards the wall in a last ditch effort to stop his fall, and stop his fall it did.

His hand ended up landing on a lever that gave way under his grip and shifted into a downward position. Danny unhooked his shoe and pulled himself up just in time to see the little red bar from before shoot up into the green zone.

 _Ectoplasmic Release Systems: Online_

He looked at the screen with one hand still placed on the wall and his heart still racing from his near fall. _Should I turn that back off?_ He wondered briefly for just a fraction of a second before there was a loud whirring noise. Danny felt his stomach twist at the realization that he must've triggered something, but there was no time to move, no time to speak, no time to even think anymore.

One bolt. That was all it took. One bolt of high voltage electricity running straight through the palm of his right hand and right on through the rest of his body. His knees buckled and his head went back before time slowed nearly to a standstill.

Next thing he knew, Danny was starring right at the ceiling of the portal. He suddenly felt weightless and partly lost, yet free. He went to reach out to the ceiling, but found himself lacking in any type of solid form. A slow flash of light in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned over, still weightless and floating, to see a rather confusing and horrifying sight.

He saw himself, surrounded by pure white electric bolts that moved at a snail's pace. His hand was still on the wall where it was lit up like a Christmas tree with a path winding up through his arm. His body still hadn't even hit the floor yet.

 _I'm…dead._

 _So that's it? My life is just…done? Game over?_

 _I don't even get to say goodbye to anyone? Mom and Dad? Jazz? Tucker? Sam?_

 _What am I supposed to do now? Where- no what am I right now?_

 _Oh, hell no. I better not be a ghost. Mom and Dad are gonna kill me. Again. Unfortunately, maybe literally too._

He was pulled from his thoughts when he saw a green substance in the corner of his vision. Danny looked back towards the back wall of the portal where there was a good dose of ectoplasm being injected into the electric bolts. he watched as the ectoplasm slowly traveled through a particularly large bolt of electricity, turned white to green as it passed. Following the path of the bolt with his eyes he saw that it also happened to go straight through what was now just his corpse apparently. His corpse that was currently being stabbed by about ten different bolts of electricity.

The green traveled and trickled through the electricity, moving faster than the bolt itself, although in this odd state even that was slow to Danny. He saw as it finally approached his human body, but then the unexpected happened.

The moment the electrified ectoplasm hit his human body, Danny was thrown back down, all weightlessness gone as his soul and consciousness remerged with his body. Time sped up to return to its normal speed once again.

Blue eyes shot open and starred straight up into toxic green electric bolts. He finally hit the floor and wasted no time rolling over and looking for the way out. His whole right arm felt like it was on fire, even more so in the palm of his hand. He pulled it close to himself and attempted to crawl back to the entrance of the portal only to be continuously hammered by high voltage shocks.

 _So close…yet…so far…_

 _Maybe it'd be easier to jus' give up…_

 _No…NO._

He gripped the edge of the metal frame around the portal with his left hand. Three more massive shocks hit him and he couldn't help it when he screamed.

 _Almost there…just do it now._

With one final surge of energy he pulled himself out of the electric vortex and pushed himself just a few more feet away from the portal.

 _Now let's just hope I don't die here on the lab floor._

Danny collapsed from the pain and exhaustion. For once he found the floor in there very comforting, just smooth, cool metal tiles. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his right hand flat against the cool surface. _Screw it if the floor is dirty and it gets it infected_ , he thought, _at least it helps a little._ Small remainder shocks continued to course through Danny, causing him to flinch he finally peeked his eyes open a little and caught sight of the bit of hair that usually hung over his eyes, his breath hitched in his throat. Another shock ran down his spine and when he looked again his hair was back to normal. He didn't want to worry about that right now, he couldn't. The edges of his vision turned dark and fuzzy. He didn't resist.

Johnny 13 had just commanded Shadow to keep watch while he decided to follow the Doc through to wherever this new portal led. He knew whatever they were there for must be important to the Alliance, that much was obvious from Clockwork's advice. The old geezer had been very obviously helping them out for decades now, but if anyone ever outright asked him about it, he'd just tell 'em that would be cheating.

Johnny floated through the green vortex just about a minute after the Doc had gone through. What met his eyes on the other side was definitely surprising. It was a place he'd been perhaps two or three times with Kitty for different missions, mostly for destroying certain weapons plans that were just too dangerous for humans to have. He knew the family that lived here was infamous through the Ghost Zone, but mainly just to the ghosts that liked to go on vacation through Amity Park, or stir up trouble in said town.

Johnny turned around suddenly realizing the fault in having a portal lead to a family of ghost hunters' lab. "Shit. Is this an _artificial_ portal?! We didn't know they could do that yet!" he exclaimed, looking horrified at the metal framed portal. "Is this what this secret mission is all about?" he asked

"No. Well I suppose, in a way, yes. But still no. Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch?"

Johnny turned around and finally noticed the unconscious human kid on the floor. Benson was kneeled on the floor next to the kid and had a hand on his forehead. "Shadow's got it covered, thought you could use some help. Now c'mon don't bother with some human kid, we gotta find whatever it is we're here for." Johnny said in a hurry. _Is it not getting through the Doc's head that we're standing in a fucking ghost hunting lab?!_

"This _is_ what we're here for." Benson said calmly, pulling out one of his scanners from his case.

"What-" Johnny was stopped when bright electric bolts jumped off the kid causing him to flinch as the color of his raven black hair suddenly faded out to be replaced by pure white. The skin just beneath his eyes looked almost cracked and slightly burnt, there was now a white aura surrounding the kid and the colors on all his clothes had just inverted leaving him with a black t shirt, red jeans and white converse sneakers.

Johnny gaped, not really knowing what to think. It was obvious now that the kid wasn't actually human. "What the fuck?" he said, taking a few steps closer towards the Doc, who glanced up at him before waving a disc looking thing over the kid.

"Halfa." he stated simply before reading the test results, "…Ectoplasm to blood bonding mostly successful…" he mumbled to himself as he recorded the outcomes.

Meanwhile, Johnny's mind was still reeling, trying to figure out the implications, " _That_ kid…" he said, watching as Benson rummaged through his case, "…is a _halfa_? Like that crazy Plasmius dude?"

The Doc just hummed a response and found the stabilizer he'd been looking for along with a small syringe. Johnny went and took a seat on one of the empty counters across from the Doc and watched wordlessly as he gave the injection. He took out his wallet from his back pocket and dropped a twenty on top of the Doc's briefcase. Richard saw it and chuckled. "Damnit…looks like everyone back at the base just made some bucks." Johnny said and began counting the money he had left in his wallet, "thought you were all crazy running on that age old prophecy 'bout there being two halfas. Guess now we just gotta wait and see if they can fix the world." Johnny grimaced slightly when he thought of what Kitty's reaction would be when she found out he was now in debt to just about everyone in the Alliance.

There was a small noise and the two looked down to see two glowing green eyes peek open, but never really settling on anything. "Kid looks a pretty out of it." Johnny remarked. Benson looked at him with one eyebrow raised, "You'd be too if you took thirty thousand volts."

Johnny let loose a high pitched whistle, " _damn…"_

The kid's eyes fell shut again and soon after another bolt of electricity formed, this time looking a bit more like a ring, and split, changing the kid back to looking like his human self.

A couple of minutes later Richard got Johnny to help him phase the kid back upstairs into what the two ghosts could only assume was his room, where they dropped him on the bed. They stayed there with him for at least another two and a half hours so Benson could be sure he was in stable condition. Johnny found himself easily amused by how much Benson seemed to care about this random kid they'd never even met, not to mention he's the son of two infamous hunters. Eventually it came time for the duo to depart, but right as they were about to leave a thought came to Johnny.

"How's it work if the kid's folks are hunters?"

Richard just shook his head and picked up his briefcase, "I do not know my friend." he sighed, "I do not know…"

* * *

 **A/N: Welp. There it is for y'all. Sorry, I meant to get this chapter up yesterday, but y'know, I had to make sure I got this one just right, so it took a lil bit longer.**

 **UP NEXT:** _Dr. Richard Benson gives his report to the Alliance and Danny finds himself wishing he just hadn't woke up this morning._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	19. Chapter 18

Thanks to all for the wonderful reviews, here's the replies! :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Welcomeback! XD I'm relieved to hear that the last chapter has lived up to your expectations! And as for the uniform, well, you shall see soon enough ;) and yes, haha, Johnny has lost quite a bit of money XD Your questions will be answered in time, I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)

 **MonsterousThings:** lol, I'm going to take that as a good sign XD

 **Sedashi:** Thank you! I'm _really_ glad you like it so much! :)

Thank you all, and enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 18

 **What in Ectology**

 _Summary: Dr. Richard Benson gives his report to the Alliance as they plan their next move._

* * *

Deep underground in Alliance HQ, Dr. Benson paced back and forth across his workplace, lost in deep thought. Clutched in his hands was a folder containing all his research on halfas, most of which was new thanks to Plasmius being very uncooperative with him in the past.

The Doc was supposed to be giving his report to the Alliance in just a few minutes at the meeting, but he decided to take whatever time he possibly could to keep going over the results he'd gotten from the newest halfa. Everything, even just the concept that halfas can exist was still completely mind boggling to him. He had developed a general idea, more like a theory if you will, over time as to the science of it, but there were still so many unknowns. However, what he _did_ know was that in order for someone to become half ghost, they required a near death experience, high exposure to raw ectoplasmic energy, and a very specific blood type.

From the brief scans he had run back at the Fenton's, Benson had collected a whole truck load of new theories and questions such as: How are halfas able to have both a human heart and a ghost core, and how do the two interact or help one another? Why does the human body accept the ectoplasm into the blood stream? And what triggers transformations? Is it a mental pull or an outside environmental and/or situational factor?

He also wondered what caused the ectoplasmic energy to merge with the body instead of the soul and consciousness like it would it the case of most ghosts. He had a couple of theories for that one including, maybe it had something to do with the body still possessing the soul after the heart stopped, or perhaps it could be if the ectoplasm already began to merge with the soul before the human body was shocked back into the living, dragging the soul and therefore the ectoplasm as well back into it. Whatever the real answer was, Benson knew he would get to the end of it. He did have all of eternity to do it, after all.

Meanwhile, Youngblood sat perched atop one of the Doc's filing cabinets, watching him pace back and forth while he talked to himself. The young ghost held a blue lollipop in his right hand while his undead parrot, Oliver, sat on his left shoulder silently. He sighed overdramatically and pouted. He usually liked hanging out with the Doc, especially when he did a bunch of crazy experiments, but it was getting boring after just watching him pace around for ten minutes.

Youngblood stuck his lollipop in his mouth and gave Oli a pat on the skull before floating down from the cabinet and out into the hallway. Unfortunately, it was boring out there as well with all the plain walls and the fact that anyone who walked or floated by didn't really pay any attention to him, well, except for one person who came trudging through the hall with greasy blonde hair hanging down in front of them as they dug through their wallet.

Johnny glanced at Youngblood and pulled out a ten before tossing it to him. Youngblood's eyes lit up, " _Sweet!_ But what's it for?" he asked, holding out the bill in front of him. Johnny grumbled something under his breath, "Lost the bet" he said and continued down the hall before he came across the next ghost and handed them a ten as well.

Youngblood honestly didn't care what the bet had been about at that moment, he just looked at the cash and imagined how many lollipops he'd be able to get from that cool candy store in Eidolon City now. "Or…" he thought out loud, "I could go to that other super awesome candy shop in Amity Park instead…" he said with a grin. The skeletal parrot on his shoulder squawked, "No one will take you." "Psh, I don't _need_ anyone to take me, I'm old enough, I'll go by myself!" Youngblood retorted as he crossed his arms. Oliver squawked loudly again, "Bad idea. Bad idea." The child ghost just grinned and pat the bird on the skull again, "It'll be fun! And if any hunters dare come near me, I shall take thou out with mine sword!" he yelled, victoriously waving his pirate sword over his head. Oli put a bony wing over his eyes, "That was medieval, not pirate." Youngblood shrugged, "Eh, whatever."

Just then, the Doc walked out of his lab and started down the hallway, now carrying a few folders full of papers. Youngblood decided to follow behind him, quickly abandoning his pirate/medieval knight gig and instead pretending to be a spy infiltrating the enemy's top secret hidden base. He followed the Doc all the way to the main controls/meeting room and slipped in the door silently before finding a hiding spot near the back under a chair. He laid himself flat on the floor to try and get a better view while Oliver stepped down off his shoulder and onto the floor next to his head, his bony talons scratching on the smooth tile.

From what he was able to see, Ember, Johnny, Kitty, Amorpho, Technus, Frostbite, Pandora, and Richard were all at the meeting, plus some other faces he couldn't put a name to.

"So, thanks to Johnny, basically the _whole_ base already knows there's another halfa now." Kitty said with annoyance lacing her words as she sent one more glare towards her boyfriend. "Why should that be a problem? It's not like anyone in the Alliance is going to go blab the news to some Royalist." Technus said in his unidentifiable accent. Pandora crossed all four of her arms and lifted her chin up a bit higher, "We will never know if we have any spies within our own ranks, but it is possible. If we are fortunate enough there will not be anyone reporting this news to the kingdom even as we speak."

"Don't you think if anyone was spying on us, that they would have attacked this base a hell of a long time ago?" Ember asked.

"Patience is a virtue" an elder ghost replied calmly. Pandora nodded in agreement, "Correct. This could have been exactly the kind of knowledge they have been waiting for."

" _Ok,_ but we don't even know if there _are_ any spies." Ember pointed out with an attitude.

Youngblood pouted as they all continued to argue the subject. He was getting bored again, but the door he came in had been closed by now and he didn't feel like getting another lecture about sneaking into places he shouldn't be. _It's not fair, they aren't even my parents, they can't tell me what to do_.

"Everyone! Quiet down." Frostbite yelled, "We may continue discussing this issue later, but for now, may we move on to how we plan on dealing with the new halfa?" Mostly everyone in the room agreed. "So, as we already know, the prophecy states that the two halfas are the key to peace in our worlds. With the aid of Clockwork, we also know that this second halfa is destined to join us, but he'll need training, especially for when the Royalists do find out about him. They will not hesitate to go after him. My suggestion, we send our own before they do, but keep it hidden as well from everyone."

Ember grinned, "If you're saying what I think you're saying, then I'm in. I could _definitely_ go for a little playing the bad guy." When she started receiving some suspicious glances she put her hands up, "Hey, I'm just saying it'd be fun for a day or two."

Pandora clasped her hands, "It is not a bad idea, but who would we send? Whomever goes must be good enough to do three jobs: avoid getting caught by hunters, train the halfa, and keep it all in secret."

Ember's hand shot up, "I can do it. _Please?_ I've been _dying_ for some more action." she pleaded.

"Johnny and I can go too." Kitty spoke up, "We're used to avoiding hunters by now." Johnny nodded in agreement.

Pandora shared a look with Frostbite, "Alright. The three of you will be allowed. We will find some others willing to go as well. However, I believe we should wait at least two weeks before we send the first."

"Two weeks?" Johnny asked, "By then there's a good chance the Royalists will have found out."

There was a silence where everyone became immersed in their thoughts until Frostbite broke it, "Ten days. What if we give him ten days to adjust before we send anyone?" Everyone in the room glanced around at each other and upon seeing no objection, Pandora spoke, "It is settled then."

* * *

 **What's Wrong with Me?**

 _Summary: Danny finds himself wishing he just hadn't woke up this morning._

* * *

"…osed to be keeping wat…"

"…ectoplasm to blood bonding…"

"…is a halfa…"

"…all crazy running on…old prophe…"

"…ook thiry thousand vol…"

Blue eyes slowly blinked open and Danny groaned from the headache he discovered he had. He reached over to his nightstand and surprisingly found his water glass from the last night to be full, despite remembering having drank it. "…weird…" he mumbled. Glancing around once, he noticed everything in the room looked extra vibrant and despite having just woken up he was able to read the smaller print on a poster hanging on the opposite wall. Overall, his vision felt skewed, like someone had played around with the Instagram filters and somehow applied them to real life. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to rub away the weirdness, but when he opened them again nothing had seemed to change.

The window blinds were shut, but a few bright rays of yellow sunlight made it through, which was odd to Danny seeing as his window faced the west…

He looked at the little digital clock on the nightstand and gaped at it. _Shit, it's 4:30pm already?!_ He jumped into action and went to push himself off the bed, only for his left hand to fall right through it. He fell forwards and put out his other hand in front of him to stop the fall. His right hand hit the wood floor and Danny suddenly yelled out in pain.

Using his good hand, he pulled himself into a sitting position and looked at the other in confusion. His palm and forearm were wrapped neatly in white bandages and at the very top of the bandage, almost to the inside of his elbow, there was a faint green line protruding from the wrapping. Curiously and gently he unwound the bandage, finding the sight more and more confusing and horrifying.

When his arm and palm were finally free of the bandage he held it out and starred at the glowing green Lichtenburg figure streaked down his arm. Then it all came back. The voice, the portal, tripping, the massive electric shock, everything.

Dread sank in and Danny bolted downstairs practically tripping over his own feet. He threw open the lab door, that was mysteriously unlocked and felt his stomach twist at the sight of the swirling green vortex.

"It _was_ real…" he whispered to himself and looked down at the ugly looking scar that glowed with the same ominous green as the portal. He remembered being thrown from his own body and floating above it, he remembered _watching_ as the bolts of electricity continuously coursed through him. " _How_ …am I…alive?"

He turned around and pressed the lab door shut before locking it. Chills took over and Danny found himself shivering for no reason. He caught sight of a blanket lying on top of the couch in the living room and began heading for it until a bright electric ring formed and shocked him slightly. Once more he collapsed to the floor as the ring split in two and passed over him. He gasped when he noticed there was now a supernatural glow surrounding him and that the color of his clothes had all inverted. A piece of hair fell over his eyes but that didn't surprise him as much this time, he'd already seen that once.

Danny glanced to the right and saw the downstairs bathroom door open. He stumbled to his feet feeling somewhat lighter and went straight to the mirror. The only thing he hadn't even somewhat anticipated were the eyes. Toxic green and glowing so brightly it was difficult to tell the difference between the whites, the iris, and the pupil. Not only that, but the skin right below his eyes looked cracked and burnt almost. All in all, he looked pretty dead and pretty ghostly.

Fortunately, before he could freak out too much he was able to find his pulse, thus convincing himself that he was still alive and just had to figure this out.

He spent the next two hours attempting to find out why he was alive but could look like a ghost. While he didn't exactly figure _that_ out, he did discover that a little cold or warm feeling somewhere deep inside him could make him change. He'd also found out he had a couple of basic ghost abilities like invisibility, intangibility, and flight/levitation. Part of him wanted to think of these new abilities as something _really_ super cool, but as the evening went on that thought began being outweighed by all the cons. Like, _what if this is permanent? What if I can never be normal again? What if I am kind of a ghost? How does that even work? Can I even tell Mom and Dad about this? What if they find out anyways? What if I can't control it? What am I and what happened to me?_

A little chime sounded from his bed where his phone lay. He picked it up and read the text from his mom.

 _Just finishing dinner, then we'll drive home. Everything ok there? :)_

Danny had forgotten all about the time and when they'd be home. Nervously, he typed out a reply with his left hand, having long since rebandaged his right one.

 _Ye-_

He cursed when his phone sank right through his hand and landed on the floor. "I need a better case if this is going to be the new norm" he sighed and finished the text before nervously awaiting the moment they'd get home.

Around an hour later it was just past seven and Danny felt his stomach twist with dread and anxiety when he heard the front door open and his mom calling to him. _I can do this. Just keep it together, don't slip up._ He was just about to head downstairs when he noticed the bandages still wrapped around his arm. Running over to his closet he pulled out an old light green jacket before slipping it on, effectively covering the bandages on his forearm. Unfortunately, it was still pretty noticeable on his palm. An idea popped into his head as he dug to the bottom of one of his drawers and pulled out black gloves that cut off at the fingers. He slipped them on quickly and ran downstairs praying they wouldn't get too suspicious.

"Hey" he greeted on his way down the stairs. "Hey, son! You missed it! At one of the colleges they had a presentation about their astronomy program, even had a speaker from NASA, you would've loved it!" Danny smiled at the fact that his parents always knew how much he wanted to work at NASA one day as an astronaut. Of course, his smiled faded as he remembered his thoughts from earlier. _If this_ thing _is permanent…would I even be able to be an astronaut? They have to pass so many medical exams…what if…_

"Are you cold or something?" Jazz suddenly asked. Danny looked up at her with wide eyes, "Well, yeah, I-I mean, it just seemed extra cold in my room, which is where I was all day, so…yeah, so I decided to put on a jacket…and gloves." Jazz just raised an eyebrow, "Ok, whatever." then she added in a whisper, however, Danny still heard her clearly, "I still say we need a normal family vacation…"

"Whoa! Hey Mads, honey, you might want to have a look at this!" Jack suddenly yelled from the other room. _Oh no,_ Danny thought, _the portal._ Maddie followed Jack's voice and after a moment she yelled, "It's working?! B-but how?!" She went down into the lab to investigate more while Jack came back into the living room, "Danny, you were home all day, did you notice the portal started working?" He gulped, "I-it is, I mean, it did? No I didn't- didn't notice." Thankfully for him, it wasn't his mom there interrogating him, or she would've noticed something was up, his dad, however, remained oblivious.

"You sure you didn't even hear anything?" he asked. "Nope, no, didn't hear anything, but I did fall asleep for a couple of hours, so, I-I don't know." Jack seemed to accept his son's answers and a smile grew on his face, "Well I can't believe it, but it seems to be working like a charm now!" Danny forced a smile for his dad and soon after retreated back to his room and shut the door. Another chill took over and he slid to the floor with his back pressed against the door. The rings slid over him and his jacket and gloves disappeared along with almost every other human trait.

Hours passed but Danny barely moved until it was nearly one in the morning. He picked up his phone from his bed and went into his contacts. He'd been debating on doing this all night now, but he'd finally made up his mind. With red rimmed eyes he found Tucker's number and hit the call button.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, until it finally just went to the answering machine. _He probably got banned from his phone for a few days again._ Dannysighed and listened to the little beep signaling the beginning of the voicemail.

"Hey Tuck. So… something happened today…"

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, this one turned out a little longer than I had planned, but that's alright. So, these two parts don't exactly go together obviously, but I mainly combined them for the length. They were both just a tad shorter than I usually go for one chapter.**

 **I'm so hyped up about this story right now! XD It's honestly really enjoyable for me to write this and be able to share it with you all :)**

 **UP NEXT:** _Going out for a celebratory dinner is great and all, except when you suddenly realize that everyone around has weapons that now might actually be able to hurt you._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	20. Chapter 19

Here's some quick replies to the reviews!

 **Poksie:** You shall see! Glad you like it! :)

 **willow10:** The answer to your question would be right now :) or whenever I uploaded this cause you'll probably see it later lol

Thank you, and enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 19

 **Help I'm Surrounded by Ghost Hunters**

 _Summary: Going out for a celebratory dinner is great and all, except when you suddenly realize that everyone around has weapons that might actually be able to hurt you now._

* * *

"Danny!" Maddie called up the stairs, "Are you about ready to leave?!"

 _Leave? Where?_ Danny poked his head out of his bedroom door, "To go where?!" he yelled back.

"We're going out for dinner, didn't your father tell you already?!" she called back up. Danny thought for a moment, "Um…no?"

Maddie sighed at the forgetfulness of her husband, "Well, we're going out to celebrate the portal finally working! We've invited the Foley's to come with us, and a few agents are coming as well!" Danny grimaced, "Do I have to come?!" he asked.

"Well…yes. This is a _family_ outing Danny! Besides, Tucker will be there to keep you company!" she replied, "We're leaving in a few minutes so go on and get ready!"

Danny groaned and shut the door again. For the first time probably ever, he felt a bit anxious about meeting with Tucker, his best friend practically since birth. He'd left a _long_ voicemail on his friend's phone the previous night, or technically speaking, very early that morning, explaining almost everything that had happened the day before. Worst of all, there was no way of knowing if Tucker had listened to the message and was now too disgusted by him to even reply, or if he had just gotten his phone taken away from him again and hadn't seen it yet. _Guess I'll found out soon,_ Danny thought.

In all honesty, he was exhausted and would rather take a nice long nap than go out at the moment. He'd been crammed up in his room pretty much all day trying to get a grip on his new… _abilities…_ if only so he wouldn't slip up in front of his parents or out in public. Despite the part of him that found them really cool, he was still kind of in denial and refused to use them. he figured as long as he could learn to control them, he could just go on living like he never had them. They were just something to be ignored. However, the long dimly glowing scar on his arm, could not be ignored.

Danny muttered a few curses under his breath and pulled out a different jacket from his closet, this one being dark red and having a bit longer sleeves. He slipped on one of the gloves onto his right hand and pulled down the sleeve so that it almost covered the glove entirely. Ignoring the other glove he ran a hand through his messy black hair and stumbled downstairs.

Close to and hour and a half later found ten people sat around a large booth in the corner of a restaurant. The place itself was average, nothing formal, but definitely nicer than the Nasty Burger. The group had all just recently gotten their food after waiting for about a half hour.

Tucker swallowed a bite of the steak he'd gotten and nudged his best friend sitting next to him, "Bro, what's up? You've been acting kinda weird." Danny shrugged and poked at his food with the fork, "Nothing." It hadn't taken long for him to realize Tucker hadn't heard his message, otherwise he knew he would've gotten a lot more silence and weird glances from him. He was glad his friend hadn't heard it, but also a bit worried that he would eventually find it and listen to it. Coming up with a quick idea he asked quietly, "Hey, you didn't happen to get the voice message I left, did you?" Tucker frowned, "No, sorry man, I got banned from my phone until school starts on Wednesday. Why? Was it important?"

"NO. No, it was stupid, just something about that new version of Doomed, but I figured it out. Come to think of it, you can just delete that message if you see it, it was pointless, really." Danny said a little _too_ quickly. Tucker raised an eyebrow, "Uh…ok dude, whatever."

Danny internally sighed, he rarely ever lied to Tucker, the last time he did was probably back in fifth or sixth grade, but he knew for a fact now that he did _not_ want Tucker to hear that message. _What if he listens to it anyway? What then? Guess I'll just have to find a way to get rid of it before he gets his phone back…_

Across the table the adults were all engaged in some conversation which, begrudgingly to Danny, was about the new ghost portal. It seemed like everywhere he turned that stupid invention was smacking him in the face!

"-is indeed a major breakthrough. We'll be able to make many more technological and tactical advancements with this type of an edge." Agent K, also known as John, said. The slightly older man next to the agent, Greg Axel, director of the GIW, smiled slightly, "That's right, and we owe it to the both of you." Jack and Maddie smiled proudly with heads held high. The director continued after taking a small drink, "Of course, we'll go over the details another day, but I believe we could definitely do better with a longer term partnership with Fenton Works. If you choose to accept our terms that is, although we can go over those another time."

Maddie glanced at Jack and smiled, "I think it'd be worth a shot."

Axel clasped his hands, "Well, enough about the portal for now, let us enjoy this food before it gets cold." Sierra Hunt, who'd been sitting beside Agent K took the moment to ask, "So, Mrs. Foley, what line of work are you in?" Angela startled a bit at suddenly being brought back into the conversation, "Just Angela, please. I'm a doctor at Amity General Hospital."

The boring adult conversations continued on for the next several minutes shifting into all different kinds of topics like jobs, funny stories, and how the price of gas had gone up recently. Danny couldn't focus on anything any of them were saying even if he wanted to. One hundred percent of his attention was on the cold feeling that was pulsing inside him. The effort it took to suppress it was almost exhausting.

Danny poked at his food some more while his mind traveled elsewhere. Thoughts of the accident once more unfortunately came flooding back. He'd had trouble keeping his mind _off_ of it all day and all of the previous night. One thing he hadn't been able to figure out yet were the voices, the conversation he only remembered bits and pieces of. There were two unfamiliar, unidentified voices, he knew that much, the rest was warped and confusing to think about for too long. Obviously it hadn't been anyone he knew, but then who else could have gotten in the lab? Not to mention that whoever they were, they'd probably been the one, or ones, to put him back in his bed up in his room. But if he didn't even know them, why would they care that much? And _why_ were they in his house to begin with?!

Taking a deep breath Danny once again pushed against the cold threatening to swallow him. He knew what would happen if he let it, and it was certainly not something he wanted to do in public. _Other people don't have to deal with this shit, why do I have to? Because I'm not normal like them? No. No I AM normal. This is just a…condition…that might even be temporary. Yeah. I'm still the same as I was. Nothing's changed. It'll go away. It's all just a temporary side effect of being in that machine._

A bit of the cold feeling decided to trail down Danny's right arm and all he could think of was that _moment_. That one, short moment when the first bolt of electricity had shot into the palm of his hand.

 _CLANG!_

He was pulled from his thoughts, along with all the nine other people at the table, and a couple from the tables around them, when his fork dropped onto his dish. The resounding sound it had made was louder than one would expect. Most just turned back to their conversations not a moment later.

A small chuckled came from Tucker, "Dude, your hand just completely spasmed." he said still laughing. Obviously the dinner had been pretty boring for him as well if _this_ was the highlight of the night.

The cold pulled even harder at Danny and he decided he wasn't going to be able to push it down much longer. After mumbling to Tucker where he was going he got up, fortunately, he'd been sitting on the end of the booth, and walked past some tables down a small hallway.

His vision had been distorted, although arguably enhanced, since he woke up after the accident, but now as it felt like the cold was trying to strangle him, it was far more noticeable. The restaurant itself had lighting that was a bit on the dimmer side, but Danny could see into every shadow and corner just fine. The lamps that hung innocently above each of the tables seemed to be glaringly bright as he turned to look away from them. Even though he'd never been in this place before, Danny knew the colors he was seeing weren't entirely true to what was there.

He pushed the door to the bathroom open and realized thankfully that no one was in there. The lights in there were even brighter than the lamps and it almost stung his eyes to look directly into them. He sighed and went to lean against the white tiled side wall, only for the cold inside of him to shift and cause him to fall backwards. He fell straight through the wall, and ended up half in the back alley behind the restaurant and half still in the bathroom. He gasped and quickly pulled his legs with him into the alley.

It was dark and grungy and smelt _horrible_ , but somehow it was more comforting to be there than back inside and surrounded by people. He shuffled back a bit and leaned against the back of a large dumpster. Danny pulled his knees closer to his chest and focused on breathing. _In and out, in and out._ By then it felt like the cold was clawing at him from the inside out, desperate to be freed.

He finally surrendered to the feeling, seeing as nobody was around, and the blueish white electric rings shot out and flew in both directions over him. The cold spot became replaced by a small warmth floating somewhere inside him, it was his way back.

He groaned slightly at the sight of the white aura surrounding him, casting the alley with distorted shadows. The now exposed glowing scar on his arm stuck out to him like a reminder. A reminder that it'd been his own stupidity that got him into this mess. It'd been over twenty four hours by then and nothing had changed even in the slightest bit. The cold hadn't subsided at all, if anything it grew a little stronger.

"Oh god…" Danny complained and put his head in his hands, "Am I really gonna be stuck like this forever?" More 'what ifs' began swarming his mind and he choked back a sob.

Suddenly his throat felt cold and within a moment he could see his own breath. There was a clang and Danny looked up just in time to see a glowing skeletal bird fly over his head and into a dark corner across the alley. The bird disappeared into the shadow, but not long after two glowing eyes, similar to his own, appeared. They didn't hold any malice nor anything that his parents had told him a ghost's eyes could hold. They looked lost and after a while of them both starring at each other, they even began to look…hopeful? He didn't know how long the two of them just looked at each other, but it must have been a while before the other set of eyes looked around then disappeared completely.

Danny had no idea what to make of the encounter, but he had the feeling he could unfortunately expect more like it to happen.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this one took a little longer than I'd have liked it to, but at least I made my one week deadline! ':D**

 **Oh boy, this is where it's gonna start picking up a bit! :D**

 **UP NEXT:** _Every ghost has a story. This is the story of one Jeremy Smithsdaily, or as most of his friends know him, Youngblood._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	21. Chapter 20

Thanks to all for the reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Guest (1):** :D

 **Zela Night:** Yup lol that was just a quirky little idea I had and decided to add it into the story XD

 **Unlucky Alis:** Aye! You've returned! XD I also wish they had gone more into the concept of halfas in the show lol but I suppose that's what we've got fanfiction for! And yeah, it's still a _little_ _early_ for Tucker to get in on it all XD Danny may or may not recognize them, but I can say that in this chapter you'll get a little more insight on what Youngblood was thinking :) Also, YES! The Fentons are not crazy! XD We'll see how that affects Danny's school life soon :) I wonder why Jazz never once got picked on because of their parents? Like, sure, she tries to be the mature and sensible one of the family, but wouldn't you think _someone_ would've at least teased her a little bit? Oh well, that's just my weird thinking. Thank you for the awesome reviews! (I still fangirl a little every time XD )

 **Guest (2):** Woah! Long review! Awesome! Glad you're liking it! We definitely need more good nobody knows AUs out there XD One of my all time favorites of those was Phantom Alone by Unlucky Alis ^^^ that awesome person right up there XD Don't know if you've read it or not, but if you haven't, definitely go check it out! It's super awesome! :) And no worries, I can tell you right now that personally, I'm not a huge fan of the whole "Phantom and Fenton are two separate people" so for this story we're gonna go the same person route :) Thank you for the awesome review, and have a good day! :)

Thank you all for the reviews, and enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 20

 **The Story of Jeremy Smithsdaily**

 _Summary: Every ghost has a story. This is the story of one Jeremy Smithsdaily, or as most of his friends know him, Youngblood._

* * *

Jeremy Smithsdaily. It was a name he remembered as if it'd been heard once in a dream long ago. When the ten year old had first come to the Ghost Zone, close to a year and a half ago now, he'd decided he didn't like that name. Now, he may not have remembered _everything_ from his past life, but if there was one thing he knew, it was how much he'd loved reading comic books with his three older brothers and one younger sister. They used to all sit down every night and read some comics, so that the next day they could go outside and pretend they were all a part of the story as well. They'd had countless imaginary battles against supervillains, aliens, and pirates, and _every_ time they all had code names.

Jeremy's most used code name had been none other than Youngblood, something he came up with to sound both heroic and fearsome, or at least that's what _he_ thought of it.

Upon his arrival in the strange new world with swirling skies and floating land masses, the young ghost had decided to take up his comic book hero name, after all, it would be just like one of the adventures he'd had with his siblings, only this time he was on a solo mission and the setting was far more _real_ than anything they could've imagined.

Luckily for Youngblood, he wasn't completely alone in this new world, as he had soon discovered his lifelong friend, Oliver, the parrot, had followed him into the afterlife. But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. How about we take a quick trip back to the beginning of the story…

The Smithsdaily's were a big family that lived out on a ranch in Kentucky. They had their own issues of course, but were generally very happy where they were. Keith and his wife, Addison, were the proud parents of five wonderful children and one more on the way. Mathew was the oldest followed by Jason, William, Jeremy, and Amy. While the siblings did have _their_ fair share of fights and _very_ loud arguments, they did get along well and always kept each other company. The kid's Grandma Izy, shortened from Isabel, also lived with the family using one of their spare rooms thanks to needing some extra medical attention in her old age.

One ordinary evening, the whole family was sitting around the kitchen table enjoying some beef stew. "Can someone please pass the bisc-" Jeremy started to say before getting caught in another fit of coughing as per usual. When he was around two years old he'd been diagnosed with an incurable and eventually fatal disease, to which his parents were both heartbroken. As time went by Jeremy managed with the help of some treatment plans, although they both knew he'd never fully recover.

 _Squawk!_ "Pass the biscuits!" _Squawk!_ "Pass the biscuits!" Oliver repeated helpfully from his place on Jeremy's shoulder.

When he'd stopped coughing for the moment, Mathew held out the dish for his younger brother, who took one from the plate, "Thanks" he said simply with his voice slightly hoarse. Jeremy grinned, "Hey Mom, guess what!" he exclaimed. Addison smiled warmly, "What dear?" Jeremy picked off a piece of his biscuit and gave it to Oliver, "I haven't been coughing as much this week! I think I'm finally getting better!"

Addison's heart sank and her smile faltered. She shared a supportive look with Keith for a brief moment and attempted to force her smile wider, "That's- that's great dear."

Seven months later and things had gone from ok, to bad, to worse. Jeremy had now spent the entire last three weeks in the hospital, although there was little they could do for him. His mom and dad switched off every couple on who would stay with him, while his siblings visited every few days or so.

Fortunately, memories of his death had failed to make it through with him to the afterlife, although, _unfortunately,_ that also meant not remembering what any of the last things he'd heard from or said to his family were.

A day after Jeremy's death, his older brother, Jason, found Oliver lying dead on the floor. Some of the more superstitious family members started to believe soon after, that Oliver had died to go on and protect Jeremy in the afterlife, just as it seemed the bird had done in this life.

As Youngblood began his journey through the Ghost Zone he came to realize, after some scary situations, that this wasn't really a game anymore. Sometime soon after, the little ghost ran into, quite literally, a doctor named Richard, who told him more about many things such as ghosts, the Infinite Realms, Eidolon City, the kingdom, the Royalists, and the Alliance. It hadn't taken Youngblood long to decide he wanted to be with the Alliance, after all, they were the good guys, and the good guys always win in the end no matter how hard the journey may be, right?

So that's the story. That is how Youngblood now found himself sneaking around Amity Park looking for the cool candy store that he'd heard from some other young ghosts was here. Despite how many times Oliver had attempted to talk him out of it and tell him of how much trouble he'd be in when the others found out, Youngblood couldn't resist the challenge this task brought on. Plus, maybe if he made it through Amity without being caught, they'd stop seeing him as a little kid that needs to be babied all the time! Now, he wasn't stupid, he listened to _some_ of the reports at the base, and he knew the GIW had traps set all over this town, but in his opinion that just made it all the more exciting.

He'd already asked Oliver to scout ahead while he took this back alley to the next street. Earlier when they'd arrived in Amity Park he had come up with a whole scenario in his head. He was now a space explorer on an unknown planet, searching through an alien town for an ancient artifact. Oliver was his trusty space bird that searched out booby traps laid by the evil aliens.

Youngblood crept along a shadowed wall, there were no aliens in sight. The alley was dark and grungy and smelt _horrible_ , but it was clear of any threats, therefore it was a temporary safe zone. Looking around he noted that the smell must've been coming from the big dumpster across the way.

He looked up for a moment and just gazed at the stars. Even though a bunch of them were drowned out by the light of the city, it was a nice, familiar sight. It had been at least four months since the last time Youngblood had even been in the human world, no thanks to all those overprotective Alliance members always keeping him from leaving. Didn't they know he could take care of himself by now?

Suddenly there was a yelp and a thud nearby and Youngblood instantly pulled himself into invisibility. Across the alley there was now a human lying on the concrete…half inside the building? The…human?...wasted no time pulling the rest of himself through the wall and into the alley.

"Woah…" Youngblood whispered to himself in amazement. He'd never seen a human able to do that before! He didn't understand why the human seemed so distressed, if he'd been able to do that while he was still alive, Youngblood would've been having a party with it.

After a moment white energy shot out of the human and travelled over him, changing him into one of them, a ghost. "No way!" he whispered, "Cool, that has _got_ to be the new halfa I heard them talking about back at the base!" Youngblood was almost buzzing with excitement. He'd heard a lot of things about the halfas, especially around the Alliance. Theyalways said that the first halfa was like the world's yin, corrupt and evil but still had the potential to be good, and that the second halfa was like the world's yang, innocent and good but with the potential to do evil. He was constantly hearing about how the two of them were supposed to eventually bring peace to the Ghost Zone and the human realm.

Youngblood had seen Plasmius only once in his afterlife, but if he knew anything about him from that time, it was that the guy was a classic supervillain. He was evil, powerful, and manipulative, just like all the supervillains he used to read about in comics. His mind began to wander as he started imagining how awesome the second halfa must be, after all, wasn't it just about every kid's dream to see their comic books applied to the _real world!?_ He imagined the second halfa would be super _strong_ and _brave_ and _crying_? Youngblood quirked an eyebrow and faded back into visibility, but remained hidden in the shadows.

"Oh god…am I really gonna be stuck like this forever?" the second halfa asked himself and attempted to hold back a sob. Youngblood felt lost. None of the superheroes from his comic books ever went and cried behind a dumpster in some gross back alley.

Just then, Oliver flew in and landed on his shoulder back in the shadow. The second halfa's eyes followed the bird until he was eventually looking straight into Youngblood's now visible eyes.

After a moment of confusion, Youngblood realized something. He _did_ get to see his comic book stories applied to real life. This is just what happened when the stories collided with reality. Crying doesn't make a superhero weaker, it makes them… _real._

* * *

 **A/N: Not sure if like how I ended it there, but oh well lol. So, I know I said things were gonna pick up a bit after the last chapter, well, my mistake, I meant after this chapter :)**

 **Lemme know if y'all want to see more ghost's stories like this in the future or nah!**

 **UP NEXT:** _Choices are made and new paths are forged._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	22. Chapter 21

Thanks for the awesome reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Unlucky Alis:** Glad you enjoyed it! And don't worry, I've got a whole chapter planned just for an interaction between Youngblood and Danny ;) And that's a really great point about Jazz! I didn't think of that before, but it makes sense now why she isn't usually seen with friends of her own. Lastly, yes good ol' Richard will get his turn for a backstory eventually! XD Thanks for reviewing! P.S. I just read the new Survivalists chapter and OMG IM SO EXCITED! XD although I left a longer review on there as well lol but I still just had to say it again how awesome it is XD

 **MonsterousThings:** Glad you like! :)

 **Joy Phantom:** Really? Never? Well, no worries, I reply to every reviewer! :) Glad you like it so far! And dang, bad wifi or no wifi is the worst XD We do seem to have a similar view on the DP universe, don't we? XD thanks for the awesome reviews! Hope I can hear more from ya soon! And good luck with that wifi! :)

Thank you all and enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 21

 **Becoming**

 _Summary: Choices are made and new paths are forged_

* * *

Danny had told his parent's he'd been over at Sam's house the past couple hours. Of course, that wasn't true, he'd only said that because he knew his parents would never personally call the Mansons. If they really needed him, they'd just call him on his own phone.

The truth was he'd felt like he just needed to get out of the house. There had been some agents over discussing different things, which Danny usually didn't mind that much, but now…now it felt like he couldn't control the nervousness and unease he felt around them. It was almost instinctual. People he'd never really minded being around now became people he felt needed to be evaded. The worst part of it was that he couldn't understand why. Sure he'd admit now that he had gained some very…ghost like abilities…and they did all hunt ghosts for a living, but Danny was still convinced he was not in fact a ghost.

It had been around five thirty when he'd left his house and spent a good hour and a half loitering around the park. By then it had been sunset and Danny had walked around a few city blocks aimlessly, just observing the town's transition into night. The stars came out eventually, shining brightly, but there was no moon to light the black sky.

It was around eight when Danny decided he should probably start heading back home. He kept his gaze down on the city sidewalk to avoid the blaring lights of cars passing by. After a few minutes he came to a busy intersection and hit the little pedestrian crossing button a good six or seven times, because honestly, who _doesn't_ press that little thing way more than they need to?

While standing there one the corner, Danny noticed an odd sense of déjà vu. It felt like he'd already lived in this moment and already knew what would happen next, and yet, he didn't.

While he was wracking his brain, trying to figure out the strange sense of familiarity, he failed to notice the already smoking car that ran the red light and headed straight for a head on collision with another car that had just began to make a left hand turn. The two cars collided roughly and the car that had been turning left flipped over.

In his moment of shock, Danny had felt a chill spread quickly through him and when the shrapnel flew, it was unable to touch him.

The crash was over as fast as it had begun and the two cars were at a complete stop, one flipped over with gasoline leaking from it, and one torn apart and smoking right next to the first one.

A few small flames licked at the hood of the second car and within just a second or two a guy, probably in his mid thirties, stumbled out and away from the smoking car. His eyes were wide and fearful and it appeared he was still a bit in shock. Shuffling backwards in panic, he ended up on the sidewalk near where Danny was standing.

The sound of a young child crying loudly was coming from the other car that was turned over. _That_ cry and the sight of _both_ flames and gasoline near each other set Danny into motion. He barely knew what he was doing, but he was aware that he'd long since left the visible plane, and held onto the feeling so nobody would question what he was going to try and do.

Danny ran around the other side of the car, where the backseat window was broken, and looked inside to find the kid. He reached to grab the kid's hand and concentrated on _one_ thing.

 _Intangible. Intangible. Intangible. C'mon, the laws of nature don't apply anymore. Intangible. Intangible. Intangible._

Thankfully, it only took a moment before the kid was freed from the car seat and Danny attempted to gently float him over towards the sidewalk. When he let go, the kid went back to the physical and tangible world and stopped crying for a moment to look around in confusion.

 _One down, one to go._

Danny ran back to the other side of the car once more, somehow still invisible, and looked in the driver's seat. There was a lady, presumably the kid's mother, but she appeared to be stuck. "Cory?!" she called out desperately. She obviously couldn't turn around to check on her child, but she must've heard his crying stop. Danny eyed the gasoline that was trickling closer and closer to the flames and decided he needed to move fast, even though the invisibility thing was wearing him out.

He grabbed hold of the older woman's hand and did the same as before, ignoring the gasp and pulling her out of the physical world. When they made it to the sidewalk, he made sure to let her down as gently as he could manage, seeing as she appeared to have hurt her leg during the crash.

Danny sighed with exhaustion as she also returned to the physical world. Both mother and son seemed to have lots of little cuts and bruises, and Danny winced when he noted that the mother's knee might've been dislocated, but overall, they looked like they'd be alright. Once the lady regained her senses, she gasped at the sight of her son and immediately began checking him over to see if he was ok, temporarily ignoring her own injuries.

Remembering something, Danny ran towards the crash scene once more and glanced around in each car. They all got out ok. He returned to the sidewalk, now with feet dragging, and was thankful to see that some witnesses of the crash had pulled over to help and call the Amity Park emergency services.

In knowing he wouldn't be able to keep up the invisibility act much longer, Danny found a little spot, that he was pretty sure no one would take notice of, and faded back into view of the human eye. His whole body felt like jelly and he wished he could just collapse and take a nap right where he was. It felt like all his energy had just been sapped from him.

He ended up hanging around a few minutes more, watching from the sidelines, just to make sure things went ok from there. the car soon caught fire and there was a small explosion, but the people were fortunately far enough away from it so they wouldn't get hurt.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Danny's mind processed what had happened. He had no idea what had pushed him to do it, but he just did…and it felt right, great, amazing even.

Later that night Danny was lying on his bed, completely exhausted from staying invisible for so long earlier. he flicked through some channels lazily on the little TV in his room before his eyes caught sight of a familiar sight. It was a report on the car accident from earlier.

"-Mr. Alvarez says he was just driving home from the car dealership, when the hood of his vehicle suddenly began smoking. He says he lost visual due to the smoke which resulted in the unfortunate collision." _So that's what happened,_ Danny thought. "This however, is not the strangest part of the incident. The mother and child of the second car both miraculously made it out their flipped vehicle before it caught fire a few minutes later, with only minor injuries. The mother is claiming to the authorities that she and her son were saved by a ghost. She says, quote, I heard my son suddenly stop crying and a moment later I felt weightless and chilled. I was pulled from the car but I went through it. Right after that I was on the sidewalk sitting next to my son. End quote. So the big question is: Could this really have been the act of a less malevolent ghost?" The reporter's voice was almost oozing with skepticism, obviously convinced by the widespread lies that every ghost was evil.

Danny hit the mute on the TV and ran a hand through his raven hair. Of course, it still felt so right that he'd done it, but hearing the story on the news was confirming almost everything he didn't want to believe. That lady was now convinced it was a ghost that had saved her and her son's lives, but a ghost isn't alive, a ghost isn't human, and Danny was pretty sure he was still both of those things…mostly.

 _Is it possible to be both?_

He placed a hand on his wrist and thankfully found a pulse, although it did seem a tad slow, but maybe that was just him. Going over towards the mirror on the dresser, Danny confirmed once again that he still looked completely ordinary, just like he always has been. With a little bit of dread and anxiety, he tugged on the cold spot inside of him and flinched at the bright electric rings that appeared. One glance and anyone would be able to tell him he definitely did not appear human, with a supernatural glow, pure white hair, and toxic looking green eyes. Once more Danny reached for his wrist and while this time it took longer and it was even slower, his pulse was still there.

 _Maybe it is possible…to be both._

He glanced back at the TV where the mother and son were being asked some questions. They both had some small bandages to cover little cuts, probably from the window glass, but their faces were alight with smiles. _And maybe these…powers…aren't as bad as I thought they were,_ Danny thought to himself. _Mom and Dad won't find out about this though. No one will._ His thoughts travelled back to his best friends, Tucker and Sam. He knew somewhere deep inside that they'd understand, but all the 'what ifs' spread through his mind like wildfire. _No. Not even they can find out about this._

A thought from the day before came back to Danny. The voicemail. _If Tuck opens that message anyway out of curiosity, he'll know everything that happened._

After deciding what he would do about the message, Danny began practicing with holding invisibility and intangibility, controlling levitation, and attempting to put a steel grip on his powers to avoid slip ups. It was 1 am by the time he allowed himself to fall asleep, but by 9 am the next morning he was up and ready to take care of one last thing.

It was a busy morning at the Foley's house with vacuums running and dishes being washed, not to mention the loud country music that Angela had playing. Danny stood invisibly in Tucker's room and looked around for his friend's phone through the heaps of laundry and other pieces of technology that were lying around. He eventually found the device on Tucker's desk, plugged into his main computer.

Quickly typing in the passcode and ignoring the weird background, Danny went into his recents and found the ten minute voicemail from what was now three days ago. He hesitated slightly, but soon pressed the delete button and closed the phone again. He looked back once, before turning and leaving the house unnoticed, although he wasn't the only thing to go unnoticed.

What Danny never noticed, or bothered to read was the message that had popped up on Tucker's main computer screen just before he'd deleted the message.

 _Cellular Device Backup Complete!_

* * *

 **A/N: Keep that ending in mind. It may come back someday ;) Anyway, sorry this chapter took slightly longer than usual to get up! I got pretty busy these past few days with my mom's birthday, figure skating, plus trying to sell some art and start up commissions, so yeah…I'll try and get the next one up soon! :)**

 **Can any of you piece together what the déjà vu was from? Lemme know in the reviews!**

 **Oh yeah, the picture I added for the cover and is currently my avatar is my own, I don't steal art lol. There's a print of it along with many other DP art prints available on my eBay. Just in case anyone is interested, you can just search up "Digital Fan Art Print Danny Phantom" on eBay and they're up there. Free shipping on all. Those pics are also available on multiple Redbubble products :)**

 **Sorry for that little self promo thing, I'm just trying to get some of my art out there. y'all can just ignore it lol XD**

 **UP NEXT:** _People become intrigued when a new, unidentified ghost shows up and seems to take the human's side. Plus, when the king of the Ghost Zone receives some new information, he does not take it all that well._

 **See ya soon, and please review if you have time! :)**


	23. Chapter 22

Thank you all for the awesome reviews! Here's the replies!

 **MonsterousThings:** :D

 **Unlucky Alis:** YES! It was from the dream! Yeah, I'm gonna place that last line to the side for a while, but I can promise you it will return eventually :) And YES! I read and reviewed on ch 25 of The Survivalists, it was AMAZING! I love those chat room chapters XD Can't wait to see what's going on in Amity! :D

 **wiseguy2415:** Thanks! Glad you like it! :)

 **Zela Night:** Close! I love your thinking on the déjà vu thing! It's explained a bit in the author's note at the end of the chapter! Glad you're liking it so far! :)

 **WolfMistwood:** omg wow! I love your thinking on the déjà vu thing! The answer is slightly more simple than that all, but I loved reading you take on it! :) If you're curious, the answer is explained a little in the author's note at the end of the chapter :)

 **Joy Phantom:** Lol! XD Glad you're liking it so far! :) and for the heroic obsession, well, I decided I wanted to take a little bit of a different path than the norm, but that will also be explained later on ;) and right?! I'm so excited about The Survivalists! SUCH a great story! :D Thanks for reviewing! It's always great talking with you! :)

Thank you all so much and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 22

 **The First Sighting**

 _Summary: People become intrigued when a new, unidentified ghost shows up and seems to take the human's side._

* * *

 _Group Chat_

 _Tuck: Hey bro everything alright?_

 _Sam: Tbh, Danny, what have you been wasting our last days of freedom on?_

 _Tuck: U were acting kinda weird earlier this week at that dinner thing then u sorta stopped replying to us. R u ok?_

 _Danny: Yea, sorry, been busy with some stuff_

 _Sam: Like what_

 _Danny: Just stuff. Tuck aren't u supposed to be banned from ur phone until school starts?_

 _Tuck: Yea but my parents are both at work rn_

 _Sam: I'll be lmao if u get caught_

 _Danny: *when_

 _Tuck: Hey, I was just being a concerned friend_

 _Sam: So, either of you want to hang out today?_

 _Tuck: Wish I could but we're going over to my grandma's_

 _Danny: Can't sorry_

 _Sam: Damnit guess I'm going to the bookstore again then_

Danny's lip twitched upwards, _at least some things are still the same._ It'd been about four days since the accident now, which meant just five days left until the first day of high school. Frankly, he had no idea how he was going to manage school when he couldn't even go two hours without his powers acting up. Plus, there'd be so many people around, if he even sank through the floor a _little_ or accidently became invisible, someone would be bound to notice.

Holding up one hand, Danny willed it to disappear and a few seconds later come back. He was glad he'd at least gotten a bit of control over the past couple of days, plus it was even a little _easier_ to control them in his other form.

He sighed with boredom and picked up a jacket that had been bothering him in its previous spot on the floor. Danny tossed the article into the closet when something caught his eye. It was small and something that he was _absolutely_ _positive_ hadn't been there before. Looking slightly closer, it appeared to be some sort of fabric, but it was blacker than anything he'd ever seen before, so dark in fact, that not even the light from his room could catch any of the wrinkles or curves in the material.

When he went over and picked it up, Danny noted that even while holding it blatantly in the light, it remained its unnaturally dark color. If he hadn't been holding it right in his hand, he would've sworn it had been from a picture that had been doctored. Like a hole had been ripped in space and reality.

He unfolded the strange little fabric to find a couple holes had been ripped out of it, or rather, cut. The edges were smooth, so it must've been intentional. After looking at the thing for a minute, Danny began to realize how much it resembled…

"What the hell?" he whispered to himself, "Can this week get any weirder?"

After deciding he didn't really want to know what the…thing…was or where it had come from, Danny threw it back in the closet and shut the door, as if getting it out of his sight would clear it from his mind as well.

Late that night, long after the unnerving dinner with parents talking about their newest ideas on how to rid the world of ghosts, Danny found himself just sitting and starring out his window, the city lights a few miles in the distance.

The sky looked so…open. There was just so much space up there, it seemed free. Nobody else could get up there, and nobody owned it, well, arguably the government owned the airspace over the country, but that was if you were being technical.

Ghost could go there though, and everyone in the city knew that ghosts tended to take over the skies of Amity Park, especially during the night.

 _It would be nice to go out there, even if it was just once_ …Danny thought to himself. _But what if there's other ghosts out tonight? There probably is. Wait- other? No. No referring to myself as a ghost or….whole…complete ghost…ever._ Then a thought suddenly occurred to him. _If I went out in that other…form, would other- no, would any ghosts even care? Probably not, honestly._

Danny checked to make sure his bedroom door was shut and tugged at the little cold spot, however, just a second before he reached it, the distant, yet clear sound of sirens somewhere in the town reached his ears.

 _Sirens… something happened… someone needs help somewhere… help… help?!_

The rings split and Danny knew, pretty much instantly, that something was different. He stumbled back a couple steps and gasped a bit at the odd sense of comfort.

He pulled one hand in front of himself to find from his fingertips to his elbow was all sleek white fabric. He turned his head to the side a bit and his chin just barely brushed against a tall black collar.

Confusedly, he turned to look in the mirror on the dresser. The only things that had remained the same was his hair, eyes, and supernatural glow, although the last thing seemed slightly dimmer now, probably because more of his skin was covered than had been with the t shirt. The rest had changed, sleek, flexible black fabric had replaced the black t shirt, cutting off near the middle of his stomach, angled down on the sides. A smooth white undershirt went the rest of the way from the bottom hem of the black to the top of the white belt with multiple clips and loops. Red jeans had been swapped for black and instead of inverted converse sneakers there were white combat boots.

"What the fuck…" Danny breathed out. Of all the weird things to happen this week, this one probably ended up around the top three. First place belonging to the moment he'd figured out he had some ghost powers. _What's with this stuff though? First the car accident, then the mask, and now this?_

"You know what, I'm not even gonna bother to worry about that stuff right now." Danny decided before pulling himself off the ground and leaving out the window into the night air.

It felt to Danny even better than he'd imagined it would, to be able to just fly completely freely out in the dark of night. Gravity became a mere suggestion as whatever few pedestrians were out at that hour became little ants on the ground. He'd been out now for about half an hour but every couple minutes he worried that his parents would find out he was gone, even though he was pretty sure they and Jazz were all asleep already.

He swerved between a couple of buildings, making sure to avoid getting too close to the ground. He knew the GIW had tons of ghost traps placed around the city, and Danny did _not_ want to get caught in any by accident.

Suddenly his breath fogged up in front of him, despite the warm summer air, but at the moment he didn't really have the energy to even question it. He looked to his left where there was a building lower than most others downtown. It was only two or three stories tall and floating just above the roof was a group of about six or seven young, grotesque looking ghosts. Danny felt his heart skip a beat as he attempted to just float past casually and remain unnoticed.

Unfortunately, the little group _did_ notice him going by, however, they made no move to go after him. Instead, they just continued to take little glances in his direction and went on gossiping to each other.

Despite the ghosts' nonaggressive behavior, it took until he was at least two miles away for Danny to relax again. He ended up floating just outside of some little 24 hour convenience store on the corner of the block. The streets here looked slightly more rundown Danny noted, probably since it was on the edge of the city closest to Elmerton, the suburb of Amity Park known for its rundown status and higher crime rates.

The bright light from the little store shone out the large windows and reflected off the tar of the road. There looked to be only two people inside, the checkout guy behind the counter, and one customer going up to the checkout.

Danny looked around the block some more from his current position on top of a street sign. It was a quiet night with a minimal number of cars passing by. The street lights buzzed softly as their yellow glow lit the streets and sidewalks below.

When he looked back into the bright little convenience store Danny felt his stomach twist a little. The employee now had the barrel of a gun in his face as he fearfully handed over the money in the cash register. _Man, why is it always the convenience stores that get robbed?_ The customer turned thief took all the money in a bag and backed out of the store. As soon as he went out the door, the checkout guy picked up the phone, most likely to call the APPD, or Amity Park Police Department.

The thief ran down the sidewalk and, without thinking, Danny flew after him invisibly. When he made it several feet in front of the guy, Danny stopped abruptly and stuck one foot out, right in the guy's path. The thief, oblivious to the invisible half ghost, kept running and tripped badly, landing face down on the pavement. The gun flew from the thief's hand and slid until it was at least six feet away from him. He caught a glimpse of something that was almost like an outline, like a line where the world looked slightly distorted, and he knew what it meant. He shuffled backwards a few feet on the ground, eyes widening when his gun disappeared into thin air. A chill filled the air and an echoed voice spoke from right beside him, "Take the money back." The man hesitated, not wanting to give up so easily. He _needed_ that money.

"To the store. _Now._ " the detached and otherworldly voice spoke again. This time, the guy's fear of the ghosts in this city won and he quickly grabbed the bag and turned around. He walked back, hoping that the chill would disappear, but it didn't. It followed him all the way back to the convenience store.

When he got back, the bag slipped right _through_ his hands and eventually showed back up on the counter in front of the panicked and confused employee, and with it, the ghost he now despised.

Danny dropped the bag full of money and the gun back on the counter while both the thief and the employee stood still in shock. It didn't take long before sirens were heard and blue and red flashing lights pulled up in front of the store. After a second of making sure neither of them were planning on trying anything, Danny pulled back into invisibility and left the convenience store behind. It's probably be best if he went home now.

"Good morning Amity Park and welcome to Amity 7 News. I'm your host Megan and we've got a wild story from late last night to share with you all today. In the very early hours of the morning today, there was a call about a robbery at a small convenience store on the East side of the city. When police arrived at the scene, the money and weapon of the thief had already been given up and the robber, who was there, turned himself in. Now here's the interesting part. Both the employee and the thief came out and said the crime had been interrupted by a ghost. May I also remind you all there was also an incident just a couple days ago with a car accident where a woman claimed to have been saved by a ghost. We are all left wondering now, if these two events are connected, or purely coincidental."

It wasn't an hour later before Sam caught wind of the news and began texting the group chat, as well as probably updating her online blog.

 _Group Chat_

 _Sam: I TOLD YOU GUYS_

 _Danny: Is this about that news story from last night?_

 _Sam: Yes. I knew there had to be good ghosts out there too. Now I have solid proof._

 _Danny: Sam I'm on your side, but I don't think that's really "solid" proof_

 _Sam: TWO incidents with people claiming they were saved by a ghost? Plus the guy from last night, the employee, says he actually SAW the ghost_

 _Danny: Well, they don't have it on video or anything. It could've just been someone else that he mistook for a ghost. I mean, he was just robbed and must've been pretty freaked out to begin with_

 _Sam: Ok, well, he went on a short interview for Ghost Watch and he seemed pretty chill then_

 _Danny: And that was like 5 hours after it all happened. Of course he'd be calmed down a bit_

 _Tuck: Hey guys what's going on?_

 _Danny: Tuck you're going to get caught eventually_

 _Sam: Danny doesn't believe that the thing last night was actually done by a ghost_

 _Tuck: Oh, idk I watched that interview with the guy and he had a pretty decent description. Last I checked white hair, glowing green eyes, and a paranormal aura doesn't describe any human_

 _Danny: Did everyone watch that interview except for me?!_

 _Tuck: It's the talk of the day dude_

 _Sam: Yeah, pretty much. Everyone's debating over what they think really happened because APPARENTLY even the CONCEPT of a good willed ghost is beyond them_

 _Danny: Alright alright enough with the activist stuff_

 _Sam: Ok, I know you guys aren't really into it all, but seriously, this could be BIG_

 _Tuck: So, what do u FUCK I GOTTA GO BYE_

 _Sam: Lmao he probably just got his phone taken away for another week_

Once more Danny was alone in his room, the crescent moon shining through the window. The closet door was slightly ajar and sitting there innocently on the middle shelf was the folded fabric, blacker than the night sky. After a moment of hesitation Danny walked over and picked it up. He knew now what these powers were for and he knew that if he kept it up, he'd eventually run into someone who knew him, or get caught on camera. Besides some color alterations, his ghost self looked very similar to his regular human self.

The rings appeared once again as the cold took over. He looked down at the fabric held by white gloved hands and hesitantly put it on. Any part of his facial structure above his nose became nearly unidentifiable as it appeared like just a blank space save for two glowing orbs. _Anything to make sure they don't find out about this._

* * *

 **The Dark Dynasty**

 _Summary: When the King of the Ghost Zone receives some new information, he does not take it all that well._

* * *

Blood red energy slammed into stone walls. Once valuable artifacts shattered and crashed to the floor. Nobody in the palace dared go anywhere near the throne room if they valued their afterlife. The one other unfortunate soul in the room was attempting not to flinch at every bang and yell and scream. "Lord Eligo, please calm d-"

"Calm down? You expect me to calm down?! That child was supposed to have been killed fourteen years ago, so that THIS MOMENT would NEVER HAPPEN! And where. Is. That. Damned. Hunter."

Plasmius released a shaky breath he'd been holding, "Skulker was last spotted fleeing the kingdom towards the outermost sectors, your highness."

Another wave of energy pelted the walls, rattling the whole structure and sending echoes through the large, dark room. Plasmius would _never_ admit it, _especially_ not to the king, but he was a little glad Skulker had apparently failed. He was tired of being the _only_ halfa, the _only_ freak of nature.

"You will find the halfa child and kill him."

Oh. Well he couldn't disobey the King of the Ghost Zone. He'd already sworn his loyalty to him and before that had practically sold his soul to him in exchange for those years of guidance. But, he also didn't want to kill the only other person that _might_ be able to understand him.

"Do I make myself clear?" the deep voice reverberated through the throne room.

"Yes, my lord, however, may I suggest an alternate plan of action?" his heart skipped a beat before receiving approval. "Your highness, you see, there is still a chance we might be able to sway the second halfa to see things the way they are, _before_ the Alliance can infect his mind with their putrid ideas."

The following silence was long and extremely unnerving to the older halfa.

Eventually a large, toothy grin became visible, "I have trained you well Plasmius. It would indeed be very beneficial to twist the prophecy to work _for_ us, than against, would it not?"

He released the breath he'd been holding and internally smiled at where this was going.

"You will have six months to sway the other halfa. You fail, he dies. Understood."

Plasmius grinned, "Yes, my lord, thank you. I will not fail you."

"You never do."

* * *

 **A/N: oooh wowie, this one got kinda long, 3,000+ words! XD**

 **Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans! :D**

 **Omg, the question from the last chapter! XD XD XD I love how everyone is overthinking it! You guys were coming up with some crazy awesome theories like precog abilities to sense danger before it comes and all that jazz. Lol, I loved you guys' theories, but the answer was that the déjà vu was because he had a dream about it once in an earlier chapter XD There was a reason for the dream however, and it will be explained in the future :)**

 **Also, when I was originally coming up with this AU like a year ago, I figured that the whole identity thing was going to need another solution. This AU is much less cartoonish than the show, so someone would probably connect Danny's two sides much easier and quicker. My solution: give him this super cool looking mask that looked like just a rip in space, almost like a singularity (black hole). Idk I guess my thoughts on this were that**

 **1\. It would make it much harder for anyone to actually compare facial structure and**

 **2\. You've gotta admit it would look pretty badass :D**

 **UP NEXT:** _The school year has started but it has started with chaos and a very upset late lunch lady._

 **See ya soon and please, please review if you have time! :)**


	24. Chapter 23

Thanks for all the awesome reviews! Here's the replies!

 **MonsterousThings:** True! It _is_ very easy to connect the dots lol. The only reason it didn't happen in the show was probably because it's a cartoon and that wouldn't be very helpful to the plot. XD Personally, I love giving everything a more realistic touch. I feel like it makes it more relatable and enjoyable to read :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Vantablack! YES! I gotta be honest here, I had seen pictures of it and heard about it on multiple occasions, but I never knew the exact name they had for it. So when I saw you mention that I quick looked it up, and yes, that is the exact stuff I meant XD So thanks for introducing the name to me! Sam's blog, yes, it is about activism, and it will be addressed much more in this chapter! :) And with the sirens, don't get too hyped up about that one because, and I'm just going to be brutally honest lol, they had no significance other than hearing them changed Danny's thoughts mid transformation XD I figured, in most places you hear sirens fairly often, doesn't mean it's always something big, in fact more often than not it's not something big, so that's pretty much all that meant lol. Clichés are a yay XD and I loved the latest Survivalists chapter!

 **Pseudinymous:** Yup, Ember is one of my faves so I wanted to tone her evil side down a little bit for this AU and thanks! Skulker really is the type for keeping to code. He's slightly done it a few times in the show, so I really wanted to show that side of him here. Yes, Maddie is slightly more violent here, but hopefully her character is still present by her ongoing love for her children. And yup, that little kid was Danny XD Hope I can hear more from you in the future! Your reviews were great fun to read!

 **Dragon Historian:** Thanks! I hope this story will continue to live up to your expectations! :)

 **Joy Phantom:** Aay! Thanks! The cover image I set for this story, as well as my profile pic are a drawing I did of Danny based on this AU. The only thing I left out of there was the mask though ':D Thank you! And same to you! :)

 **Leticia N:** Wow! I'm glad you like it! I am honored that you went through the trouble to Google translate it all just to read it! Thank you and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Thank you all so much for all these awesome reviews! I appreciate it, and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 23

 **First Encounter**

 _Summary: The school year has started but it has started with chaos and a very upset late lunch lady._

* * *

It was a Monday and the fourth school day of the year, having started last Wednesday. Sam had no trouble getting used to high school and was now back in the swing of things. Her good friend Tucker had been a little anxious on the first day, but soon adjusted as well, and while Danny had been acting a little strangely, he'd also gotten used to the new routine rather quickly.

The school cafeteria was filled with chatter and the line for lunch was now looking like a good five to ten minute wait. Sam was glad he second hour class was gym because it meant she'd always be one of the first to get to the lunch line, being so close already. So, armed with her usual black combat boots, Sam strode to the far end of the cafeteria carrying her tray with a salad and a fresh water bottle.

It was at one of the smaller tables near the corner, with a few old chairs scattered around it that Sam found her two best friends. Miraculously, Tucker had gotten his phone back over the weekend and was now seen scrolling through his Instagram while poking at the leftover meatloaf he'd brought in his lunch. When Sam got to their table she dropped her dark purple spider backpack on an empty chair next to her and sat down with her lunch.

"Bro, bro look. I found another Lance Thunder meme!" The corner of Sam's mouth curled upward as she rolled her eyes, "Hey did either of you go to Lancer's yet?"

Between their fits of laughter, Danny looked up, "Not me, but I think Tuck did."

"Who now?" Tucker asked, finally looking up from his phone. "Ugh, I asked did you go to Lancer's class yet?" Sam repeated.

"Oh, yea! We just did this super boring vocab thing like the _whole_ time" he responded before returning his attention to his device. She frowned and figured she'd just spend whatever dull time she had in English to start writing up a new article for her blog.

In the past week, there'd been _multiple_ sightings of a new ghost in Amity Park that seemed to be just trying to help, in her opinion at least. Whatever the real story was, people's interests had been piqued by this new masked ghost and there were now theories flying all across the internet. With everyone suddenly becoming very interested in the topic, Sam's online ghost activist blog had become much more popular, boosting her up to a following of nearly twenty thousand. Yeah. She'd been busy the past year and a half or so.

Usually she tried to keep a balance of posts about facts, videos, interviews, opinions, debates, and theories, but this week everything had just blown up into all theories and debates. Her own personal edge she held over other blog sites like her own, was that she _actually_ lived in Amity Park, Ghost Capital of the World. Many of the others lived in other parts of the country or world and had to go online to find their information. Not Sam. She could just walk around the city vlogging and happen to catch three ghosts in the video, and that was on an average day! She had resources and advantages that no one else had, like being able to meet with witnesses of different events in person and ask for their thoughts. Once, she'd even talked to a peaceful ghost for about thirty seconds, but she'd almost gotten herself arrested and had to take the video of it down. Sam had since learned her lesson in that, if you're going to talk to a ghost, don't give the courts video evidence to hold against you. After all, it was now illegal to have any interactions with a ghost unless it was in self defense or you had a license.

Her parents, well, they had never been happy about her blog or the opinions she supported, however, they _did_ allow her to continue, if only because it was a social thing and also about getting out in the community. _That_ part they _did_ support. Besides, they must've known that they would never be able to change her mind.

"So, I'm going to be writing up a new article during next hour. Either of you have any input?" she asked while stabbing at a piece of lettuce.

"N-no. Why?" Danny asked her sounding oddly accusing. She raised an eyebrow, "I don't know, did your parents say anything about it all?" His expression became blank, "Uh…"

"Yea, I got something." Tucker jumped in, "Be careful." Danny turned to Tucker looking confused, but he didn't notice. "What?" Sam asked.

"Be careful." he repeated, "I mean, this ghost just shows up outta nowhere, and apparently no ghost hunting organization has ever had it in their records before, doesn't it seem at least a _little_ suspicious?"

"I don't know, maybe, but there could be so many other sensible explanations for that! Oh yeah, and stop calling them 'its', they're not mindless you know." Sam retorted. She knew within a moment that her words had come out a little harsher than she'd meant them. "Well, studies show…" Tucker started meekly, knowing full well that this was one argument he couldn't win against Sam. She had over a year's worth of research behind her while he had a couple of rumors and 'facts' he'd seen on the internet.

"Yeah, studies show _my ass_. Do you even know how 85% of ghost hunters obtain their so called 'facts'?" Sam asked, not being able to control the bitter tone that seeped into her voice. "C'mon guys, can we _please_ not fight over this again?" Danny asked. Sam took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah whatever, it doesn't matter right now anyways."

"Ok, but can we argue about the fact that our dear friend Sam here is missing out on a large percentage of protein needed to function?" Tucker asked innocently, smirking behind his hand. Sam gaped, "We don't _need_ meat. That's fact." Danny put his head down on the table, "Not this again…"

Suddenly the mood in the cafeteria shifted as multiple students began to get up and leave accompanied by a few yells. Sam, however, didn't take much notice and wrote it off as a typical day in high school.

"Sam…"

"No, seriously. Humans are evolved from apes, who are _herbivores_. Even the way our teeth are shaped proves we're not meant to eat meats."

"Sam."

"Plus, eating meat just clogs up your veins with unnecessary proteins and cholesterol. All the proteins that humans actually need can come from different plants. Not to mention-"

"Sam!"

She snapped out of her vegetarian rant and noticed both her friends were backing away from the table and motioning for her to follow. Their eyes were constantly glancing at something behind her.

Sam slowly turned around and was met by the sight of an elderly woman floating peacefully just above the tiled floor. Her old, wrinkled skin had a green tinge and her glowing eyes looked bloodshot. She had a grungy old apron on along with a hairnet and thin plastic gloves.

Being awkwardly placed between the ghost and the lunch table, Sam stayed her ground but began to slowly reach for her backpack just in case. She always carried a small ectogun on her, the kind that anyone in Amity Park over thirteen years old was allowed to have. Anyone younger legally had to have parental supervision in order to hold or use the weapon. Of course, the only reason they allowed kids Sam's age to have one was because the kind they sold were one hundred percent harmless to humans.

The ghost now in front of Sam looked at her almost sadly, "I hear you don't like meat, child. Why is that?" The voice echoed ominously through the nearly empty cafeteria. The only students left in the room were pushed against the walls, and the few staff members that had been there watched the scene in front of them helplessly, having already called the situation into the front office where they would no doubt at least call for some paranormal services.

"Uh, yeah. Well, you know, we don't technically _need_ to have meats in our diet…" Sam said slowly. The ghost's eyes narrowed slightly and Sam's hand reached the zipper on her backpack.

"Meat is good for you child. It helps you grow and makes you stronger." the ghost said, her voice sounding like it had gone down one level of cheery. "Uh, yeah!" Sam said, breaking out of her usual tone of voice in an attempt to keep the situation bright, "But, vegetables can do that too? Some people, just don't really care for meat, I guess? But who am I to say? It's just my opinion after all, no harm in that, right?" her hand slowly slid the zipper on her backpack up.

The ghost's eyes narrowed even more and a scowl became visible. "You need a proper diet! Perhaps _I_ will have to teach it to you."

Sam lunged for the ectogun in her bag but her fingers only grazed it before she was yanked down through the floor. She heard someone yell her name before the cafeteria disappeared completely.

Ten minutes or so later all the students were evacuated from the school and standing out in the football field and some around the parking lot. The Fentons had been called to help contain the ghost, although they also had some backup from a few members of another private organization that had been in the area already. Now, this wasn't the very _first_ time that Casper High had been the target of a rogue ghost, but it was rare. Reasonably, most students were worried, but some were secretly enjoying the fact that they'd gotten out of class, well, except for the more studious ones, like Jazz, who was a junior.

Both Tucker and Danny were extremely concerned for Sam. They had no way of knowing if she was ok, where she was, or even if she was still alive, after all, it wasn't _completely_ unheard of for someone to be killed in a ghost attack. Staff members had told them repeatedly that Sam would be alright and that the ghost would be taken care of, but they didn't know that.

Eventually Tucker began partially blaming himself for Sam getting captured by that ghost. He had been telling her from the start that getting involved in all the town's ghost issues was a bad idea. Even if that ghost hadn't gone after her because of _that_ , he knew she probably would've ran like any normal person if she hadn't been into all that stuff. Instead, Sam had tried _talking_ with it to solve the problem. If only he'd tried harder to get her out of that damn activist community, maybe they all could've gotten away without any of this happening.

Meanwhile, Danny had been attempting to come up with a plan. A few times he'd had his doubts and wondered if he really should just leave this job to his parents, they were professionals after all, they knew what they were doing. However, something inside always came back telling him to go. The whole way to the parking lot, him and Tucker had been pushed along by one of the teachers making it impossible to slip away and look for Sam on his own, but now, his eyes had finally caught sight of somewhere he could use. Everyone's backs were to the bleachers, and even if someone looked towards them, all they might see is a flash of light, which could be easily dismissed as _anything_ _other_ than one of their fellow students turning themself into a ghost at will.

On his way towards the bleachers, Danny passed his parent's work car… _no, truck…no, RV, whatever_ , and sitting out was something that gave him and idea. One of his parents' thermoses used for quick containment. They weren't the best of containment devices, but they were good for weaker ghosts, and if Sam's research was right, one of the only harmless ones. Taking a quick, suspicious glance around, Danny grabbed the thermos and speed walked to the bleachers. The indicators on the face of the device read clearly that the thermos was empty, and it wasn't like his parents would miss it, Danny knew they had made a bunch of these things.

Within a minute or two, Danny had made it behind the bleachers, and after checking around once more to make sure absolutely no one was looking, he let the cold take over and the electric rings burst into view.

Sam's day had been getting worse and worse. _First_ she had gotten kidnapped by some ghost ranting about how good meat was for everyone, then she had to sit around the school basement for ten minutes bored out of her mind while the ghost had gone off to find good meats, and _now_ she was trying to force Sam to actually try the grossly meaty food she'd brought back?! No way. That just wouldn't do.

"What is your issue? Not everyone has to agree with you, you know!" Sam shouted from her place on top of a large stack of crates. The only thing keeping her there was the thought that if she jumped, she'd probably break her leg or something. The ghost floating around her seemed to be put off by Sam's latest remark and yelled as she kicked one of the crates. The stack wobbled and Sam grasped tightly onto the edge of the top crate before it settled down again.

"WHY WON'T YOU TRY IT CHILD?!" she yelled with rage pouring into her eyes and words. Sam scowled, "I've been on this healthy _vegan_ diet for _five_ _years_! Like _hell_ I'm going to fuck it all up _now_!"

The ghost screamed with rage making it feel like the air itself shook, "FIVE YEARS OF MALNUTRITION?! YOU WILL TRY IT WETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT CHILD!" Her voice suddenly calmed almost comically, "Chicken, or fish?"

"Pass." Sam said flatly. _Honestly, as much I despise ghost hunters for what they do, would it kill them to get here a little faster?_

"AAAUUUGGGHHH!" The ghost yelled in frustration, punching her fist into one of the boxes near the bottom. Almost instantly, Sam regretted sass talking the bipolar ghost. The tower of boxes leaned just a hair too far and they all came apart before crashing towards the ground. Sam instinctually closed her eyes at the feeling of weightlessness. She waited and waited to hit the ground as time seemed to slow down a little bit, but it never came. She never felt the cold tiled floor, nor the hard wood of one of the giant crates, no, instead her descent felt barely cushioned and a moment later fingers curled over her knee and shoulder. Her stomach twisted a little when she was suddenly jerked back into motion. Wind whipped through her short black hair before disappearing completely, only to be replaced with a cold tingle running through her whole body.

The ghost's screams disappeared completely and from behind her eyelids she could tell she was outside by the sudden amount of light. She peeked her eyes open to find she was now in back of the school. Realizing that she had no idea who was holding her, Sam quickly jumped down and backed away a few steps before turning and coming face to face with the ghost that had stolen everyone in town's attention over the past week.

"You…"

Danny stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Was there a chance she'd recognized him? Even with the mask and hair and eyes and everything else?

"You…saved me?"

Good. Looks like she hadn't recognized him. That means he had to get back to the basement. That ghost was still there and would probably come looking for Sam again now that she was gone. Not knowing what to say, nor really trusting his voice to go unrecognized, Danny just nodded and pointed back towards where they'd came from before turning around to leave.

"Who…are you?"

Danny hadn't a clue why the name came so clearly to him. For some reason, it seemed like the easiest, most obvious answer on the planet, yet if he had taken the time to actually think about it, he'd know it made no sense.

"Phantom."

And without turning back, he clutched the thermos and went to find the ghost that had taken his friend.

Sam stood there behind the school in a complete daze for at least three minutes. That ghost had just saved her life, or at the very least saved her from multiple broken bones. She knew it. She was right. This was proof. This ghost, Phantom, _what a weird name for a ghost,_ had been saving people all week, and she knew, this was only the beginning. She couldn't wait to tell her two best friends about this. After all, they'd been skeptical, but now she could fully persuade them.

She heard a couple of voices nearby and suddenly two familiar figures turned the corner to find Sam standing there.

"Sam! Oh thank heavens, are you alright?" Mrs Fenton asked her, passing the devices she'd been carrying over to Mr Fenton. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, still coming out of her daze. "We were all so worried! Jack and I just saw on our tracker that a second ghost came back here and thought we'd try and follow it to you, but here you are! Are you sure it didn't hurt you?" she asked frantically while looking her over. Sam just smiled, "He didn't hurt me, he _saved_ me." And with that she walked off the way the Fentons had come.

* * *

 **A/N: Woohoo! a SOLID 3000 word chapter! :D I would've gotten this one up sooner, but I got a little stuck about half way through and put it off a couple days. Plus, I got kind of busy ':D**

 **So, what do you guys think about this version of mystery meat? Of course, I didn't finish completely because the Lunch Lady was still causing havoc at the end, but I wanted to do it more from Sam's perspective. Plus, I know I didn't include any of the trouble with the food fight, Dash, and Lancer, but that's kinda because I just didn't want to focus on that in this. Again, this IS an AU so not everything is going to happen like in the show :)**

 **So, I just figured out how to put those line spacer things in XD This chapter, the next one, and some others are inserts that I came up with after I originally posted the ToC, so in case any of you were wondering why this one wasn't up there, yeah. I'm adding some in along the way lol.**

 **UP NEXT:** _After her and her Dad take some hard hits, Valerie becomes entangled in thoughts of vengeance._

 **See ya soon and please please review if you have time! :)**


	25. Chapter 24

Thank you all so much for reviewing! Here's the replies!

 **Unlucky Alis:** No, no they probably don't want people to know that, and don't worry, you definitely aren't reading too much into that line ;)

 **Pheek:** Sorry, this update took longer than planned, but I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far! :)

 **MonsterousThings:** :)

 **Joy Phantom:** No, he doesn't have his symbol in this, but there are reasons for it, that you can likely guess :)

 **WolfMistwood:** :)

 **SilverBlood5:** I'm glad you're liking it so far! Sorry, my updates aren't usually this slow, but I had to figure some stuff out recently. And your theory is correct! It's not really a spoiler or anything so I'll just tell you, yes. If he were to transform just because or something, it would be the T, jeans, and converse again. Thanks for the R and R!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Enjoy the chapter! And there is an important note at the end!

* * *

Chapter 24

 **Valerie the Ghost Slayer**

 _Summary: After her and her dad take some hard hits, Valerie becomes entangled in thoughts of vengeance._

* * *

Her arms trembled as she pulled herself over the pull up bar in her doorway once more. Her chin reached just above the black bar and she lowered herself again. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered her reason for being where she was. Phantom. She hoisted herself up again. If it hadn't been for that good for nothing ghost, she and her dad wouldn't have had to move into this tiny, cruddy apartment all the way out in _Elmerton_. Fortunately, she _was_ able to stay at the same school she'd been going to, but the people she once called friends had basically dumped her. When it came to social statuses, hers had suddenly dropped so low in the high school social hierarchy that three of the class's losers had even offered to help her with the move.

Her dad was also barely hanging onto his nightguard job, and she'd found out last night that things weren't going too well between him and the woman he'd been going out with recently, which only added stress.

Valerie continued with another handful of pull ups. If it weren't for that filthy ghost and its slimy ghost dog, her life would've continued to be near perfect. The most she would've had to worry about would be her social life and acne. Now she had _everything_ to worry about, her grades, money, pulling together the shreds of her past social life, and most of all, bringing the ghost scum that had caused it all to justice, although _some_ might use the word revenge.

Just over a week ago, Valerie had mysteriously received a box in the mail filled with high tech ghost hunting equipment from someone in Wisconsin who _claimed_ to have heard about what happened and wanted to help. Frankly, she didn't care who they were or whatever they _really_ wanted. All she cared about was the fact that now she had exactly what she needed to get even.

Finally jumping down from her pull up bar, she went over to her bed where her remote sat and flicked on the small TV in the corner of her room. This past week Ghost Watch had been the only channel on TV she'd been watching, so it was no surprise when Tiffany Snow was the first person to appear on the little, old screen. When Valerie read the headline at the bottom she smirked slightly.

SIGHTINGS REPORT NEW GHOST HUNTER IN AMITY PARK?

"Hell yeah there is." she said quietly to herself.

She walked over to the window in her small apartment room and gripped the sill tightly. The stars were as usual, drowned out by the city lights, but the crescent moon still shone brightly.

In the distance, Valerie thought for a moment that she saw a streak zoom across the sky. Her gut began telling her to go out there and chase it down, but her father calling her from the other room kept her feet planted on the floor and her ectoguns concealed. At least for _that_ night.

A few days later, Valerie got lucky when her dad's night shift started a little earlier, leaving her alone for the rest of the evening and night. This time she hadn't hesitated. She pulled on her red jeans and jacket, clipped on her black belt with two ectoguns in holsters, and slipped on two knee high black boots, which of course both had concealed knives in them. She quickly pulled her long curly hair back and slipped on a dark visor before pulling the hood of her jacket up. Valerie flipped a switch on the side of her visor and the screen came to life showing multiple stats on either side. Black leather gloves reached her elbows and on the back of her left wrist was a small keypad.

Valerie opened her window and stepped out onto the rickety, old fire escape. She lifted her left hand and punched in a code on the keypad before a smooth looking metallic and red colored hoverboard came from the soles of her boots.

After just a moment she balanced herself on the hoverboard and took to the skies. It had only been a couple weeks, but Valerie had found herself adjusting fairly well to the feel of her board.

She looked across the skyline of downtown Amity Park and switched on her sensors. "Alright. Time to kick some ghost butt."

It had been nearly an hour and she'd barely spotted any ghosts out and about the city tonight. Even the ones she _had_ seen had all but disappeared before she could even reach them. Not like it was unheard of for there to be lulls in ecto activity from day to day, but Valerie was honestly feeling a little put off. The _one_ night she was _actually_ able to get out there at this hour, which was usually the prime hour for ghost activity, was the day that none of them decided to show up. Typical.

Valerie huffed and sat down on her board where she was a good 70 feet off the ground. From her current position, she had a spectacular view of the city nightlife. Skyscrapers were lit up like Christmas trees as cars drove by and people strolled down the sidewalks.

She imagined if it had been daytime, there would be a chorus of birds chirping, that is, if those rumors and sayings were true.

For years, people in Amity Park have claimed that when the birds sing, all is calm, but should a ghost come near, all will fall into silence. Or so they say. It'd never actually been proven so many people simply disregarded it.

With her thoughts travelling, Valerie began to wonder if she should've just used this night to get caught up on schoolwork instead of hunting down ghosts that obviously weren't there.

As if on cue, two ghosts rushed past her, one swooping below her, the other darting past above her. She was shocked out of her thoughts, but as soon as she caught sight of a black and white blur zooming away, she knew what to do.

Valerie quickly stood and kickstarted her board's forward thrust engines, following her most hated enemy through the night.

Trackers in her visor screen kept eyes on her target as she pulled one of her ectoguns from its holster. With a high pitched whine and a small glow, Valerie charged her weapon up and pressed on some more speed. Phantom was chasing after some huge shadow like ghost that was proving to be rather agile. She knew from the looks of it, that she'd have to make sure that one got taken care of too. It didn't exactly look like the type to be only mildly aggressive towards humans.

The two darted around the city for a few minutes before the shadow ghost finally decided to go _through_ one of the buildings, which obviously wasn't a problem for Phantom, but Valerie lacked the amount of ghost like properties needed for intangibility. The building was wide so going around would take too much time.

Valerie shifted her weight back slightly and pulled the front of her hoverboard so it pointed straight up into the night sky. She gripped the side of her board with one hand to steady her until she made it above the building. She went to the other side and looked around only to find the two ghosts nowhere in sight. Growling, Valerie went a bit higher and turned on her high range sensors, but it seemed they were simply gone.

"AAAGGHH!" she screamed in rage, collapsing on her board once again. _I was so close,_ she thought and powered down her gun before placing it back in its holster.

After looking around she noted she was around 150 feet off the ground currently and on the edge of downtown where the business based skyscrapers faded into high rise apartment buildings, like her own, only a bit less run down than in Elmerton.

Valerie took off her visor for a moment and simply starred off into space. Would she _ever_ even _be able_ to catch Phantom? How could some people even _think_ of him as some sort of hero? What's worse is that the support seemed almost contagious at school. She felt like it was flu season and she'd been the only one to get the vaccine. Were people really this blind? This gullible? This easily swayed? Could it all just be from peer pressure? It seemed like everyone around her was being brainwashed. It was just so _frustrating_ how they couldn't see simple logic! There has never been a "good" ghost and there never would be. Simple as that. She'd read tons of articles written by professionals and they all claimed it to be scientifically impossible. _Well, there was that one that said otherwise…_ but apparently ghosts _needed_ negative, aggressive thoughts to survive. That's basically what the majority of organizations and even private companies claimed. So, if there was _so_ much evidence to prove that the existence of a good ghost is completely _unfathomable_ , then why can't her dumb classmates understand that?

True, that not all of the student body leaned that way though, in fact it was really only around a quarter of the students or less. It probably just seemed like more because of how little to no ghost supporters there had been before.

Valerie remembered a couple days ago, Sam had gotten into a very loud, heated debate with that Weston kid, _Wesley, right? What a weird full name…_ Anyways, almost anyone who witnessed it would tell you that Sam won the argument, but that's because she was brainwashed since elementary school with this stuff and had _tons_ of illegitimate "facts" to back her up. _Honestly, who would believe that every ghost hunting organization and the government's very own branch of security would give out all this fake information? And for what? What would they even get out of it?_

She slipped her visor back on and stood up on her hoverboard. Valerie switched her high range sensors on once more and was expecting nothing, only to be met by a small beeping. Reading the stats, she turned and quickly headed in the direction the ghost supposedly was.

The signal led Valerie all the way through downtown again and farther. She put on some more speed after a moment when she realized the ghost was fleeing in the same direction, and would probably leave her sensor's range soon if she didn't hurry.

It wasn't until she came to the edge of a residential area that Valerie decided to turn on the thermal vision on her visor. Looking around, she noticed a bluish green blob amidst a sea of warmer colors. The blob movie quickly until it suddenly disappeared inside a building. Valerie hastily shut off her thermal vision and pulled the visor off, only to find herself starring right at Fenton Works, home and workplace of a family of world renowned ghost hunters.

Valerie suddenly found it to be _far_ beyond her teenage mind as to _why_ a ghost would ever even go near such a place, but since she didn't really feel like ringing the doorbell to tell people who probably already knew there's a ghost in their house, that there is, in fact a ghost in their house, she just turned away. She had some late homework assignments to do that were much more important to her at the moment than some suicidal ghost. _What a strange concept that is._

Valerie looked over her shoulder one last time at the house and snorted.

"Dumbass."

* * *

 **A/N: IMPORTANT! Please read and thank you! :)**

 **I have 6 chapters left after this one to do before I will be starting a new story set in this same AU I am creating here. This story has always been basically all of the background exposition and world building I needed to get out of the way before starting some of my bigger plots within this AU. Once I do these next six chapters here, there will be enough background info on this AU in order for me to begin the first bigger plot. The story will be posted separate from this one, as I will continue adding more to this even while the other story is going on.**

 **Of course, you do not have to read the other one, but if you have happened to like this AU I'm building up until here, I highly suggest you check out this full length story coming up soon. :)**

 **I have some big ideas planned for this AU and have already determined that it will be 3 separate stories plus these oneshots. The first story will be focused on the Alliance and the Royalists. The second story will focus more on the GIW and the human realm society. And the third is planned to be a mixture of both with a theme of "balance".**

 **Personally, I am VERY excited to get started, seeing as I've been planning these stories out for at least a year, and I'm** _ **really**_ **hoping you all can enjoy it with me!**

 **If you have any questions about all this, just go ahead and ask in the reviews. I will gladly reply at the top of the next chapter as usual :)**

* * *

 **UP NEXT:** _Things are changing in Amity Park and Ember reflects on the past few months._

 **See ya soon and please, please review if you have time! :)**


	26. Chapter 25

Thank you for the reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Unlucky Alis:** Awesome! Another long review! :D I'm glad to hear you'll be sticking around for it! And, yeah, Val can be frustrating, but as you probably know very well, it is simply a part of her character. She'll learn eventually though. Yeah, Wes is in this, lol he's basically fanon by now, but just like the rest of the characters, he's going to be just a _little_ different in this AU. Haha can't wait to write him in the future XD also, glad to hear that Val's outfit seems to be working well, lol, I was stumped for a while on what to do with her outfit that would fit this story. And yes, they're all idiots, but they can be smart idiots too at times XD

 **Parselmaster:** Glad to hear it! I'm working on it right now! :)

 **Joy Phantom:** Cool! Another long review! :D And yes. This is just all the necessary background stuff plus some more :) That's true, Val will be as close to her canon character as I can get her because of that (mentally, not physically because she doesn't really have her whole suit here, just the board and the guns XD ). Glad to hear you'll be sticking around too! And yes, it's planned to be _very_ long ':D Also, no, unfortunately he won't be getting that symbol in this story, as you can probably understand why. Lastly, no. I'm sorry, but I really didn't want to shove any romantic subplots in because sometimes they can be distracting, and personally, I really enjoy writing more just character driven stories :) However, there may be a few little segments in _this_ story (not the three bigger plots) that have some romance. You'll see when we get there ;)

Thank you all for reading and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 25

 **Evolution**

 _Summary: Things are changing in Amity Park_

* * *

Amity park was slowly and unknowingly to all, being turned upside down. Citizens had become so accustomed to ghosts attacking and ghost hunters or the GIW stepping in to stop them. it had been that way for years.

In the beginning, it was only smaller ghosts that had made their way into town through pinhole sized breaches in the barrier between worlds. They rarely caused much damage back then, but did seem to _love_ scaring the townsfolk for laughs. That was around the time the research organization called the Guys in White first showed up.

At first, the name had only been a joke between the group of college friends who had come up with the idea of doing actual scientific research on the how's, what's and why's of ghosts, since they noticed that they all only ever wore their white lab coats. Of course, it was obvious _why_ they would wear them, but the group simply found it humorous to label themselves as "the guys in white".

When they first began, it was more of like a school club at the college they were attending, but as time went on, they began to slowly change into a private business type of thing. They often travelled to places around the world where ectoplasmic levels in the air were at higher densities, and began actually finding some ground breaking facts. They began publishing articles and even a few books on their findings, which caught them the eyes of thousands, including some government personnel who were becoming slightly paranoid about the problems ghosts might present.

After some more years of the now growing business finding out all these new, genuine facts, they were confronted by some government officials. The people claimed to have seen the work they were doing and asked them if they would be interested in doing a public service by using their knowledge to protect people in areas with high amounts of ecto activity from the ghosts that invaded their towns.

Most of the guys were on board, and agreeing that it would be a great idea, but the original founder, the top guy in their self built business, said no. He claimed to firmly believe that people didn't even _need_ protection from ghosts, because they were not harmful by nature. He thought, that if anything, they should try and form _better_ relationships with them.

The group argued for weeks, but the most heated debates came from the head guy and his best friend, who had become completely paranoid after some readings revealed to him just how powerful ghosts could be. _He_ believed that there was bound to be a day in the future when the ghosts would turn and use their power in a battle against the human race. He only wanted to solve the problem before it could begin.

Despite whatever his friends and coworkers did to convince him, the top guy just wouldn't give in. He refused to see ghosts as a danger or threat with all the stubbornness of a rock. The thing changed it all, however, was when he mysteriously disappeared one night, never to be seen again. His best friend claimed his friend was killed at the fault of a ghost, but there was not a trace of evidence to prove anything.

Eventually, the small company turned to the next in line, the best friend, and there was no hesitation this time. The _new_ top guy almost immediately struck a deal with the officials and sold their company to the government.

From there it was all downhill. The seed of corruption had been planted and over the years it grew and grew until it was nearly in full bloom. Operations became more about greed and power, and less about genuine research and discovery.

Almost all of the articles and copies of books published by the original Guys in White, were lost or destroyed. New information and articles were published years later, but as time went by, they only became even more false.

Other, privately owned and operated ectology based companies began using the published information to base their own theories and facts upon. Most unfortunately didn't even realize they were being fed false information, in fact, it got to the point where even most of the GIW agents _themselves_ didn't know the truth.

Current generations of people were now only being told of how cruel, greedy, and hateful ghosts can be, and most of them believed it. Unfortunately, the ghosts themselves began backing up the GIW's claims because the peaceful ghosts simply stopped venturing into the human realm. The more they became unwanted, the more they stayed away, leaving only the malicious behind.

So, when out of the blue, a ghost shows up in Amity Park, ghost capital of the world, and starts randomly saving people's lives, of course they were confused. Citizens, ghost hunters, and even the GIW all had no idea what to think. Eventually theories began being pumped out most fell back on the idea that it was all some sort of ruse. The ghost just wanted attention, or wanted to gain everyone's trust, love, and support in order to do a turnaround someday and attack them all. Some people didn't even believe that those people on the news _were_ saved by a ghost.

A few weeks after Phantom first showed up, a new figure came into play. She was a young ghost hunter that had somehow acquired cutting edge technology and seemed to have it out for Phantom.

People didn't know what to think of her at first either, but eventually she gained about just over half of the town's trust and support. After a couple weeks with her around, people began to simply call her The Red Huntress, which was a name that ended up sticking with her.

In the end, most people in the city ended up having at least one of them to look up to. Amity Park sure did get turned upside down, but the majority were able to adapt to the _new_ ways their problems or emergencies were dealt with, whether it be a building fire, some rogue evil ghost, a bank robbery, or even possessed hot dogs rioting down 83rd avenue.

* * *

 **Flaming Defeat**

 _Summary: Ember reflects on the past few months._

* * *

Everything ached and her energy levels were drained, but the wide grin she wore refused to leave her face. She trudged through the snowy realm, knowing full well she had another at least another three miles to go. Her energy was too low to fly there, so for now she'd have to simply resort to walking, dragging her slightly damaged guitar with her.

"Oooh, you will remember my name…" she sang softly to herself. Ember didn't really know why she'd chosen _that_ song to "take over the world" with, but it'd been fun nonetheless. She'd even gotten to use her best evil laugh.

It had been close. She'd almost had the whole world "under her control". _Psh. Yeah right, it takes a lot more than that to actually take over the world._ Sure, her music could have a hypnotic effect on human minds, but she couldn't control their every thought and movement, only influence.

Luckily, the little dipstick had pulled through at the last minute, which meant it'd probably be any day now when they could finally come clean with him, and _that_ was a reaction Ember did _not_ want to miss.

Thinking back, she couldn't believe how fast time went. It felt like only last year she had been sneaking around the strange house in Amity, stumbling upon a tiny crying baby in a crib. Maybe that's where her "Babypop" remarks had come from…

"Ember! Ember! Ember!" Klemper chanted, interrupting her thoughts. The greenish blue skinned pajama ghost floated alongside her towards the Far Frozen.

She groaned exasperatedly. " STOP SAYING MY NAME!" Ember yelled.

The ghost only stopped for a moment to stare at her with wide eyes before continuing again.

She huffed and tried walking faster only to trip and land face first in the snow. With a shiver, she sat back up and dusted most the snow off herself. Unfortunately, her core happened to be more warm, fire based, unlike the majority of the Alliance, so it was a bit of a pain for her to constantly keep going back to the Far Frozen. That also must've been why they chose this frozen wasteland for their new headquarters. _That_ plus the fact that all the snow, mountains, and rock around there would make it hard for any Royalists to track their location.

"Please, will you be my friend?" Klemper asked for about the millionth time while ignorantly poking inside Ember's personal space bubble. "We could do everything together! Like have snowball fights, and build snowmen, and fly around, and…"

Klemper kept listing off things they could do, but Ember had suddenly been struck with an idea. "Hey Klemper!" she exclaimed, turning to face him, "If _you_ could just take me about, oh, three miles _that_ way…" she pointed in the direction of some snowy hills and cliff sides, "Then _I_ know a nice little group of penguins who would just _love_ to be your friends."

Around fifteen minutes later Ember dropped back to the snow covered ground with her guitar in hand and waved Klemper off in the direction she knew there were a whole bunch of ghost penguins just waddling around. She trudged up to an icy wall and placed her non-gloved hand on it. A box of light showed up just beneath the surface of the ice and Ember put in her security code. The door appeared in the ice a moment later as it pushed itself open. She grinned as she strolled back inside at last and immediately headed for the kitchen in hopes of finding herself a nice, refreshing zupu to boost her energy.

* * *

 **A/N: This one's a little shorter than I would've liked, but don't worry, the next one is probably gonna be one of the longer ones ;)**

 **Only 5 more after this one until the new story is gonna get started! XD I'm so excited for it, I hope some of you are too! :D**

 **UP NEXT:** _When Circus Gothica comes into Amity Park, Sam notices there's something suspicious going on._

 **See ya soon and please, please review if you have the time! :)**


	27. Chapter 26

Thanks for the reviews! Here's the replies!

 **Unlucky Alis:** Oh no! I'm sorry about your computer, that sounds terrible D: Glad I was able to help at least a tiny bit about your bad day. And the GIW thing will be explained eventually. There will be subtle hints placed about, but the truth won't be for a little while. Yes, Ember's been having fun with it XD and Klemper seems like the type that would be happy with having penguin friends lol.

 **Joy Phantom:** Haha, yeah that Ember and Klemper bit was pulled from the end of Ember's episode Fanning The Flames XD And we'll see. There's still a long way to go till the end. Also, yes. That's one of my favorite lines too! I wanted to put it in this chapter very badly, I tried to, but unfortunately it just didn't fit. :( There will be some angst, but it's not going to be the main focus or tone of the story if that's what you were wondering. And lastly, that's true XD reviews are always a huge part of motivation, so thank you for helping me keep my motivation for this story! You've helped me so much! :)

* * *

Chapter 26

 **Freakshow**

 _Summary: When Circus Gothica come to Amity Park, Sam notices there's something suspicious going on._

* * *

Sam slouched in the kitchen chair as her parents listened to the morning local news report. They were saying something about how a robbery had been stopped the previous night before they moved onto every parent's _favorite_ subject: troubled teens. Of course that report was bound to make her parents suspect her of being on that road, which mind you, she wasn't. And just to make matters worse, just as the reporter started talking about making sure your teen isn't in a bad social group and to know how to spot a bad influence, Danny walked in. Typical.

Picking up her backpack Sam got ready to leave in hopes of saving the last of her and her friend's reputations as normal teens, when a commercial for Circus Gothica came on. _Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the opening ceremony is this morning,_ Sam thought.

It didn't take long before her mom saw the commercial and turned it off before rambling on about it being evil mind corruption and blah blah blah.

"Come on Danny." she said, pulling him out the door with her before anything more could happen.

"Cross over…dark side…wha…"

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Hello…? Earth to Danny? Jeez, how late were _you_ up last night?"

Danny blinked at her, "What?"

She frowned. "Did you really not- whatever. I _said_ , how late were you up last night?" she repeated, articulating every word this time. He blankly stared at her for a moment before finally finding some words. "…oh…pretty late I guess."

Sam shook her head, "Alright, c'mon." she said before they walked down her house's extra long driveway. When they got to the end, she turned left while Danny stopped.

"Last I checked, isn't the school _that_ way?" Danny asked her from behind, pointing the other direction. She stopped and turned, "Oh yeah, the Circus Gothica train just pulled into town. I'm cutting first period to go see the opening ceremony."

"Sam…"

" _Relax._ We aren't even doing anything in my first hour today." She said before starting the other way again. Once she was a good halfway down the road, she heard Danny call after her, "Don't blame me if you get caught!" She smirked. Nope. No way she was getting caught _this_ time.

* * *

At lunch, since the PE teacher had run a bit short on time, Sam found herself at the back of the line for a change. Usually she'd have been one of the first, but of course the one day she was absolutely starving was the day she had to wait ten minutes on line.

When she finally made it to the table, Sam found Tucker sitting alone with his usual roast beef sandwich in one hand and phone in the other. She set her low quality salad down on the table next to him and dropped her backpack on an empty chair.

After glancing around and under the table, Sam noticed that neither Danny nor his backpack were there. She looked on in confusion, "Where's Danny?" she asked.

"I dunno. I thought he was with you." Tucker said nonchalantly.

Sam's brow furrowed, "No? I saw him this morning _before_ school."

Tucker just shrugged, "Maybe he got another lunch detention?"

"Maybe..." Sam sighed and poked at her salad with only five minutes left until lunch was over.

* * *

It was four o'clock when Sam was walking back from Tucker's house. She'd stopped over after school to finish some homework, play a video game or two, and avoid her parents lectures on morals. Her and Tucker had also both tried texting Danny multiple times, but he never answered. She was beginning to get a little worried, even though she knew there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation. She also knew that she shouldn't really be surprised by this by now, seeing as these sorts of things had become common with her friend in the past few months.

The street was quiet and the air still, not a sound could be heard besides the occasional car driving by, due to being near the edge of the town. Shadows were slowly getting longer as they crept across buildings, sidewalks, and roads.

Movement suddenly caught Sam's eyes and she was shocked to see a rather familiar head of messy black hair at the far end of the street. She tried yelling his name out, but he barely glanced in her direction.

Deciding she needed to know what was up, she jogged to try and catch up. Danny continued to pay her no mind and soon turned the corner around a warehouse like building. Sam kept running. Even with all of Danny's weird behaviors as of late, she knew this wasn't like him, to just disappear for the day without any sort of rushed excuse, then ignore her completely.

She finally reached the building and turned the corner only to find…nobody. _However_ , behind the building was a rather large tent, and one she quickly recognized too. Figuring she'd ought to find Danny around there somewhere, Sam continued.

It was obvious that no one was around outside on that side of the circus, so she figured she'd take a quick peek inside. Besides, maybe she could even sneak a peek at one of the acts while she was looking for Danny.

She'd been looking around for almost a minute when a voice behind her made her jump.

"What are you doing back here?"

Her stomach clenched as she spun around to face the ringmaster himself, Freakshow. "Oh my gosh, Freakshow. _Wow._ I'm such a huge fan. But, I was actually just looking for a friend of mine, he's been acting kinda weird lately…" she trailed off, subconsciously hoping she wouldn't be banned from seeing the show because of this.

"Oh, well, let's see. That narrows it down to about…oh, everyone in this tent! Ha!" he said, laughing strangely. Sam's attention, however, was stolen by the figure standing behind him. She couldn't tell who it was at first, but when he pulled his hood down, the white hair, green eyes and mask made it kind of obvious.

"Phantom…?" Sam asked, visibly confused.

Freakshow's eyes widened as he turned around too. "What are you doing _dolt_? Get back out there!"

"N-no."

Sam's eyes flicked back and forth between the now angered Freakshow and Phantom, attempting to piece together what was going on.

"Wha- what is _that_? Is that _free will_?" Freakshow asked, almost sounding offended. "Obey me!" he yelled, thrusting the staff he was holding forwards. The crystal orb on top swirled and glowed furiously.

As Phantom's eyes changed from their normal radioactive green, to the same as the orb, Sam finally put the pieces together. "What?!" she exclaimed, "You're _controlling_ him?!" She didn't know how, and she didn't know why, but she knew what she saw.

Freakshow turned to Sam with narrow eyes before simply pointing at her and backing up. It took her a moment to understand what he meant, but the narrowed red eyes focused on her and the glowing ball of green energy aimed at her cleared it all up. "Wait- no, this isn't _you_. I know it." She said, backing up slowly until her back hit the side of a wood crate. She wouldn't admit it but she felt herself beginning to panic a bit as the energy in Phantom's hand green brighter and stronger, looking like it'd burst at any second.

She saw red flickering green. A battle between polar opposites. "Stop it!" she yelled. The only reaction she got was a wide, toothy grin.

The energy charged even more. The last thing she saw was green before a deafening boom.

Sam coughed and opened her eyes to a haze of dust and smoke. After a moment it began to clear and she could see Freakshow had covered his face with his arm. Phantom was on the ground with wide eyes constantly flickering between red and green. She let out the breath she'd been holding and looked just to her left where there was a huge singe mark in wooden crate. Some of the fibers of the wood were still glowing from the amount of raw energy that had just been slammed into it. She openly gaped at the mark and found herself very grateful that hadn't been her.

Sam turned and was suddenly face to face with Freakshow.

"Consider that a warning, _girl._ "

* * *

"So…you're saying Phantom's being controlled by some evil circus ringmaster, somehow almost _killed_ you, and Danny not being at school today in some way has something to do with all this?" Tucker asked skeptically. Sam had come running, literally, back to his house just about ten minutes ago suddenly sporting this crazy story, and had spent the whole time trying to convince him it really happened.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, "Listen, I didn't think I'd _ever_ say this, but my parents were _right_ about that circus _._ " Tucker raised an eyebrow, "Mind saying that once more so I can record it?"

Sam groaned, "Tuck, _please._ I know it sounds totally crazy but you _know_ I wouldn't joke about this stuff."

He frowned, "Yeah, that's the problem. Is that I know you aren't lying about this." She smiled slightly in relief at that, "Then we have to go back."

Tucker suddenly looked at her like she'd grown a third arm, "Are you _crazy_?"

"No!" Sam yelled, "Our _best friend_ might've been kidnapped by that maniac and you just want to sit here and do nothing?!"

"No, of course not!" he yelled back, sounding rather offended, "But how do you even know for _sure_ that was Danny? For all we know he could be chillin at home right now with his phone turned off or under his bed or something!"

She glared at him with lips pressed into a thin line. "Give me your phone."

"No!"

"Give it to me!"

"Why?!"

"I'm calling Jazz now just give it!"

Tucker huffed, "Fine. Just watch. Everything's gonna be fine." Sam kept her glare as she found Jazz's contact and pressed 'call' before putting it on speaker phone.

The phone rang about three times before Jazz picked up, voice bubbly as always. Sam held the phone out for both of them to hear, "Hey Jazz, it's Sam and Tucker. We were just wondering if you knew where Danny was. He hasn't been answering his phone." There was a long silence in which both Sam and Tucker stared each other down, both completely ready to call out their victory.

"He's not with you two?"

Sam immediately sent the 'I told you so' look to Tucker before realizing she needed to answer Jazz somehow. She knew how easily Jazz might be panicked if she told her the truth, so for now she settled on a nice little lie. "No. no he's not- oh wait! He just got back! Don't worry, it's all good. Sorry 'bout that, ok bye!" she yelled before quickly hitting 'end' and sighing.

"Shit, that means he really has been missing all day." Tucker concluded. "What should we do? Call the cops? His parents at least have to know."

"Not yet." She said, receiving a questioning look from Tucker. "There's a big show tonight at six, only an hour and a half from now. While everyone's distracted at the show, we can sneak around and try and find Danny. If _that_ doesn't work out, _then_ we should get help."

"That sounds like a terrible plan, but I guess let's do it."

* * *

They'd checked everywhere. They'd split up and checked under every curtain and inside every box car they could see or go inside. Tucker had just gone off to check one last place he might've suspected and Sam was starting to lose hope. That was, until she saw a roof hatch open on one of the train cars. There was even some light coming from inside.

Sam ran as quietly as she could towards the car, stopping once she was near enough to listen for any voices. After about thirty seconds of complete silence, she figured it was safe enough and swiftly climbed the ladder to the roof of the car. She crawled forward and peeked inside the room to be amazed by the pure _amount_ of cash, gold, and jewelry that must've been stashed in there. _So Freakshow's not only a psychopath, but also a thief. Nice._ She knew for sure now that they'd have to report him to the cops.

She ducked down when all of the sudden a ghost phased into the car carrying even more loot. The ghost piled it all wherever it would fit and phased right back out again. _He's controlling ghosts, then getting them to do all his thieving for him?!_ Sam was jerked out of her thoughts, literally, as the train suddenly lurched and started moving slowly. She internally panicked for a moment before getting up and running towards the ladder she'd came up on.

She was almost there when this _huge,_ muscular looking green ghost came through the roof of the car and stood firmly in front of her. The ghost was accompanied by two others, a tiny midget and a punk looking girl. Sam looked at the three of them for a moment and noticed all of their eyes had the same red swirl as Phantom's had. And the same eerie crimson glow as Freakshow's crystal ball. They were _all_ being controlled.

"He's controlling you guys too…" she said, but the ghosts remained unresponsive. They didn't want to do this. She looked into their eyes again, but there were no flickers like she'd seen earlier. Their true selves were completely suppressed.

Sam glanced behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin when two more red orbs were just inches from her face.

"All alone aren't we?"

She looked at him, noting the ectoplasm now caked around a split lip and the long scratch along his jaw that definitely hadn't been there before. Looking into those blood red swirls, Sam hoped desperately that she would find even the tiniest flicker of the green candle that had burned there earlier that day. She waited and waited, but nothing happened. They remained a solid red swirled glow. The green flame in them had been completely extinguished.

"What'd he do to you?"

It was a simple question, but one that never received an answer as Freakshow took that moment to join them all on top of the still moving train. "Made some little _adjustments_." he said nonchalantly, "Now, do correct me here if I'm mistaken, but _I_ thought I remembered warning you to stay out of it-"

"Actually you said to 'consider it a warning'"

"-and yet here you are again. I thought after our last encounter you would've learned your lesson. Oh well, just something you teenagers seem to all have in common. Perhaps _this_ time you _too_ will learn your place." Freakshow laughed manically and pushed her on the shoulder so that she tripped towards the edge. Sam accidently let a yelp loose before catching her balance again.

"Why?" she asked, "Why control ghosts? Just so you can get rich off of them?"

Freakshow grinned, "My family has controlled ghosts for _generations. I_ am simply carrying out the family tradition. Of course, while all _they_ could ever think to do was entertain the masses, _I_ have found a much more profitable use for these slaves. I mean, this orb has _untold_ power and-"

As Freakshow was monologuing he'd held his staff up just a little too high, causing it to bounce off an overhang and go flying straight into Phantom's hand. Sam watched from the side as Freakshow attempted to have his staff given back to him, and was thus far failing miserably. Phantom was hesitating, which meant there was still some hope.

" _Don't_ listen to him! He's _not_ holding the crystal ball anymore. _You are. You_ make your own choices!"

The train began to head over a gorge. "Ignore her! Now come on. Give me my staff back." Freakshow commanded.

"Don't do it! You'll-"

"Quiet!" Freakshow cut her off before turning to the other ghosts for a moment, "One of you, push her off or something for god's sake!"

"No- Wait!" she yelled as the bigger ghost stepped closer and closer to her. The heels of her heavy boots hovered just off the edge of the train. After a moment she lost her footing and was sure it was all over. Sam screamed as the world slowed down around her.

Falling. This was it. She was falling to her death. She hoped that once she hit the ground it would just be over. No need to drag it out or anything.

The train got farther and farther away. In her peripheral vision she noticed something odd. Like a living shadow. It was coming closer. Two shadowy arms even stretched out as if to catch her. But all of the sudden, it backed off. Retreated towards a cliff side where a lonely biker stood. Of course, she wouldn't remember these things later, but they were a nice distraction at the time. A distraction from falling.

Sam let her eyes slip shut and awaited her meeting with the cold hard ground. It wasn't until about another fifteen seconds or so later that she opened her eyes and realized she wasn't dead nor still falling. Looking up into two glowing green eyes, she smiled in relief. It was over now.

* * *

The next night steel toed combat boots clunked down the sidewalk. Sam was on her way home from her favorite bookstore downtown. Of course, she would've stayed longer into the night if she could, but the shop closed at nine o'clock on Fridays. Sam had spent the past four hours reading in the small shop, curled up on a beanbag in the corner, mostly to destress from the previous day.

Thankfully everything had worked out in the end, well, mostly. Phantom now had an even more tarnished reputation because of what happened the short while he'd been under Freakshow's control, but at least Sam had been able to write up a pretty good article for her blog in his defense. Plus, her information was even more reliable because she experienced it all first hand.

Otherwise speaking, Freakshow had been arrested, the stolen goods were all getting taken back to the rightful owners, and Danny had returned. Tucker had been chewing her ear off all day about how he was right after all. Danny had come back with the excuse that he'd gotten detention, then ended up having to go over to Mikey's for a science project, and had forgotten his phone at home. Honestly, Sam didn't care that she'd been wrong about that, she was just relieved things were back to normal.

As she continued along the quiet back street, she noticed the air gained a sudden and slight chill. Looking around, Sam's eyes fell upon the green glow emanating from the darkest corner in the alleyway beside her. She casually took a few steps closer.

"I'm sorry…about what happened yesterday."

Sam narrowed her eyes slightly in thought, "You shouldn't be." When he didn't answer she continued, "Don't you think it'd be really _stupid_ if someone got overshadowed, did some dumb stuff, then was blamed for everything they did while they were overshadowed?"

"Yeah. But they're saying-"

"Fuck what they say."

He laughed lightly, "Still…you could've died. I- I almost-"

"Stop that." Sam said with a hint of annoyance. " _Freakshow_ did that. _Freakshow_ did _all_ of that. Don't give yourself so much credit. All _you_ did was save my life." she said, her lip twitching up into a smile.

"So really, I guess I should be saying thanks."

Sam turned and left the alley, a small smile playing on her lips the rest of her way home.

* * *

 **A/N: 3300+ words long for this one yuss.**

 **It would have been 4 more chapters after this one until the new story, but recently I realized I have to take one of those out for story purposes, so now it's only 3 more to go until the new story! :D**

 **ALSO, in case you're interested, I am now going to be consistently updating the Table of Contents. From now on, it'll most likely be accurate :) it also says which stories were added after the time I first posted, and which ones are/will be grouped together.**

 **All timing and priorities considered, I'm hoping to post the next chapter around Wednesday, possibly Thursday just so I can have a little extra time to get caught up. :)**

 **UP NEXT:** _The Alliance decides it might finally be the time to come clean._

 **See ya soon and please, please review if you have the time! :)**


	28. Chapter 27

Thank you for the reviews, and here are the replies!

 **wiseguy2415:** Haha, yeah, any more hints and she might've had it! And thanks! :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Lol! Yeah, that would be pretty close to the truth tbh. And I'd say Sam was alright with jumping to that conclusion, given the circumstances XD Plus, it's been a couple of months at this point, so Danny's starting to get better with excuses on the go lol. And yeah, this one's still going to be continuing just like normal, although now there's just going to be another story along with it. And that's good to hear! It's unfortunate that your screen doesn't work the same as it did, but like you said, it could've been much worse, so I'm glad it mostly worked out! :)

 **Joy Phantom:** Thanks! Lol I had to rewatch the episode a couple times to work out how I was going to do that chapter XD I'm glad it seemed to have paid off! And yup, basically that's why Johnny was there :)

 **Guest:** Glad you're liking it! Thanks for reading! :)

Thank you all for reading/following/favoriting/reviewing and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 27

 **The Prophet**

 _Summary: The Alliance decides it might finally be time to come clean._

* * *

To say Danny was confused would be an understatement. Waking up in room you don't recognize is one thing. Waking up in a room you don't recognize, surrounded by your ghost enemies is a _whole_ other thing.

When he'd gone to sleep earlier, Danny had noted it was probably the earliest he'd been able to go to bed in a _long_ time, which of course meant something was bound to happen. This just hadn't been anything like he'd had in mind.

He had no idea _how_ exactly they'd managed to drag him all the way here, wherever 'here' was, without waking him up, he'd guessed it was some sort of drug, which, it wouldn't be the first time for that to happen within the past five and a half months.

"Dipstick's awake!" a familiar voice yelled.

"Ember?" Danny asked, looking up at the long trail of fiery blue hair, "What are you doing here? No, what am I doing here? Where…?" He stood up quickly, looking around the room. It was fairly open with some chairs scattered and a wide computer space. There were no windows and only two doors, one on either side of the room.

"Relax kid. You're at Alliance HQ." Johnny 13 said from his spot near one of the doorways.

"Alliance…headquarters…then what's…?" Danny looked around in confusion.

"The Alliance? It's a cult." Amorpho stated from the corner of the room.

Technus looked startled, "It is? Why, I never thought-"

"Amorpho! You're not allowed to talk, and it's not a cult!" Ember shouted.

"Wait, what's a cult?" Youngblood asked as he continuously spun himself around on one of the spinning chairs.

"Nothing you need to worry about dweeb." Kitty replied, receiving a shout of protest from the younger ghost.

"Well, so much for sticking to the plan." Doc commented offhandedly.

"SILENCE!" Pandora yelled as she entered the room followed by Frostbite. All the other ghosts quickly quieted down by hearing Pandora's authoritative tone. She sent some warning looks around the room before her eyes settled on Danny.

"Since you all have all failed to sensibly explain things, I suppose I shall have to. I am Pandora and this is inside the Alliance's headquarters. The Alliance is a group that defies the tyrannical reign of Eligo Dark, king of the Infinite Realms, and hopes to restore the balance between worlds.

"Centuries past, the sentience of the Ghost Zone itself left a message to the Observants and the Ancients claiming that when they were needed, two would be born destined to become both of death and of life. Plasmius was the first. Once we found out, we tried to convince him that we truly needed his aid to reinstate the balance. Unfortunately, Eligo got to him years before we even knew. He was too far gone for any of us to persuade him to change his ways.

"That is why we sought advice from Clockwork. If Dark had gotten to you too he'd have had you feeding right out of his hand. With two halfas to manipulate and control he'd be unstoppable.

"We've kept an eye on you since you were a baby. After your accident we decided to send some of our own to Amity Park to secretly help you learn to use your powers, so that when you did finally come across a Royalist, one of Dark's minions, you'd be prepared."

Pandora's spiel stopped there and Danny attempted to make sense of all this new information before deciding it must just all be some sick joke. "Wow. You guys really thought this prank thing through. Well, if that's all, I'll just be going-"

"Kid, this isn't a joke." Johnny said.

The truth hovered in his voice but he refused to admit it just yet. "Yeah…right." he said sarcastically, "Look, I _do_ still have school tomorrow and it's really late so…"

"I thought he'd be a little happier knowing that we _weren't_ all _actually_ trying to kill him." Ember commented getting a nod or two in agreement while Johnny just looked around, almost in astonishment, "I don't get it. We're handing you the plain truth, a pretty good one at that, and you won't stop throwing right back at us."

"Because I've already accepted that the accident was just that. An _accident_. And that it was my own stupid fault, but now _you're_ saying that not only did _every_ _one_ of you _know_ it was going to happen, but you all _wanted_ it to happen too." he yanked on the cold inside him, triggering the rings of energy before turning to just walk out and leave. He didn't need people that just wanted to use him. Back when they were attacking him he had held a higher level of respect for them than now. Now that he knew they could've easily stopped him from partially killing himself if they'd wanted to, they weren't anyone he wanted to be associated with.

Next thing Danny knew, there was an elderly, no, middle aged, no, young ghost floating right in front of him. He felt something heavy suddenly around his neck and glanced down to see a shiny cog.

"Come. There is something I must show you, and we haven't much time."

Before Danny could even open his mouth to say something, the two of them were teleported across miles in only an instant. In the next moment they were floating just at the edge of a massive floating city. Skyscrapers were angled in every which way as they rock formations they rested on were a big, beautifully tangled mess. Ghosts were everywhere. In the buildings, on the ground, floating about. Plus the sheer size of the city was almost overwhelming as it must've been _at least_ five times the size of Manhattan.

Danny had seen the place before, but only from a distance. He'd never actually found the time in the past five or so months to just go there out of curiosity, also, he knew Walker's prison wasn't too far from there and didn't favor risking getting thrown in jail again.

The ghost next to him had suddenly put on a gray cloak, "Put this on" he said, giving one to Danny too.

"Why? Are you even gonna tell me who you are?"

"Because, Danny, I can't hold the time stop for much longer, and trust me, you don't want to be recognized around here."

He huffed and decided to go along with it for now before slipping on the cloak and pulling the hood up. When some memories of Freakshow tried to resurface, he instead focused on the time stopped city in front of them. After just a moment, the ghost somehow started up the clock again and everything and everyone jumped into motion. Suddenly the city appeared more like a giant beehive with ghosts swarming all over and around it.

"Follow me." the ghost said simply before taking off through the buildings. Danny trailed behind as they continued all the way into the center of the city where all the buildings pointed inwards. After glancing around a moment, Danny caught sight of a couple of Walker's officers and quickly dove to follow the other ghost.

They went directly downwards from the center of the city and kept going down for at least another three minutes until a green glow and some rock formations came into view. As they got nearer he saw that the rocks were tall and jagged and had small ectoplasmic streams trickling down them. He followed the ghost all the way down to the surface and into a small cavern that had been hidden by some boulders.

It didn't look like it'd be much from the outside, but Danny gaped at the interior of the cavern once they were both inside. From floor to ceiling it was at least fifty feet and there were multiple small waterfalls of ectoplasm all around the room, flowing from near the ceiling into the glowing pool in the center. The walls of the cavern were covered with inscriptions in ancient languages and symbols.

"What is this place?" he asked, walking around the room, glancing over the inscriptions.

"Essentially, this is the core of the Ghost Zone." the ghost replied.

"The…what?"

"You know that a ghost's core is what gives them and distributes their energy, keeps them alive to put it in your terms. The equivalent of a human heart. It is also the thing that binds our souls to our forms and allows us sentience. This is basically the core of the Ghost Zone itself. It holds its sentience here."

The pool glowed brighter for a second as if to confirm the statement.

"The writings on the walls are of things that have been foreseen by the core and told to us through these engravings it makes."

Danny came across a section that was dimly glowing and as he ran his gloved hand over it, the inscriptions became brighter. Most of it was in another language but there were some symbols as well. One seemed to show of a line with a skull on one side and a tree on the other. Another picture depicted something almost yin yang like.

"Because I know you were just about to ask, the reason that one is glowing is because it's yours. Yours and Vladimir's." When Danny didn't respond, the ghost continued, "Even if they wanted to or tried to stop you from going in the portal they wouldn't have been able to."

"What do you mean?! Of course they could've stopped me!" he yelled. It was late, or early technically, he was tired and stressed and didn't want to think.

"Perhaps they _could_ have stopped you at the moment, but that would not change the will of the Infinite Realms. It simply would have called to you the next day and the next, and every day until there wouldn't be anything stopping you."

"How would you even know that?!" he asked, not knowing what to believe or not believe.

The ghost paused for a moment before replying, "I am Clockwork, Master of Time. I know everything that was, is, and ever will be. Or I did, until Dark placed his dampener spell over all the ancients. Now I am partially blinded from the future. That is why I've aided the Alliance. I still know enough to know that they must be successful if peace is to be restored both here, and on Earth."

Danny sank to the floor of the cavern and breathed deeply as Clockwork floated nearer. "It is not that the others necessarily wanted this to have to happen to you. They already knew it was far beyond their control." the older ghost said, floating just beside him.

Danny sat, staring into the glowing pool in the center of the room. Light rippled through the substance like waves in water. The silence stretched on, the only sound in the cavern coming from the little ectoplasmic waterfalls. Light was dim with the only source being from the pool and the few glowing inscriptions on the wall.

He didn't know what to do or think. The accident itself had been life altering enough, but now, learning that it wasn't really all that much of an accident at all…it was confusing. He remembered the way he'd been lured towards the basement, the voice that had called to him.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"You aren't supposed to do anything. The choice is still your own, the Ghost Zone can't force you." Clockwork waited a moment, "You can choose to join the Alliance's cause as they have been hoping for, or you can choose to go back and have the most normal of a life you're able to. You can have my word that the Alliance would protect you in the case of any Royalists still seeking you out."

Danny sighed and thought for a while. The temptation of just being normal again was extremely strong. There could be no more having to fight off ghosts that attacked. Humans had managed before, they'd still be able to. No more having to run from Valerie and her crazy grudges she held on to so dearly. No more having to stray farther and farther from Sam and Tucker. No more having to barely pass his classes and see the disappointment written on his parent's faces. No more late nights, lectures, or detentions. But he wasn't blind. Amity Park still had crime and accidents that could be prevented. Innocent ghosts were still being experimented on by hunters and GIW worldwide. The people in the Ghost Zone were still under the rule of a dictator. The ancients were still apparently being controlled and used for their power. Things were wrong no matter where you turned, or how much you tried to ignore them, and if there was something that could be done about, Danny knew he'd have to try.

"This…ruler. He's a real problem, isn't he?"

"He has had hundreds of innocents destroyed on his order."

He stayed silent for a minute, thinking it over one last time. There wouldn't be any going back. Any shred of hope for a normal life would be gone. He'd have to continue to stray farther from his friends, if only so no one gets any ideas and targets them. The late nights would continue as well as detentions from either falling asleep in class, being late to class, or not even showing up to class. But still…

"I'll do it."

"Are you positive?" Clockwork asked.

Danny looked up at the older ghost, "I thought you said you knew everything."

"I do, but you don't, so I am asking _you_ , are _you_ positive?"

"Yes." He'd already gone nearly half a year living this life, he could last a while longer.

Clockwork nodded slightly and they both sat or floated in the quiet cavern for another minute. Eventually, the ghost teleported them both out. When they arrived at their new location Danny looked around and found them back in his room where the little illuminated clock now read 3:46 am.

"I will tell them your choice, you could use some rest. Someone will come tomorrow since you don't know how to get back yet. They will explain more to you then. Now I must leave, they figured out I went missing again six and a half minutes ago."

Just like that, Clockwork was gone and Danny stood alone in his room. After a minute he just sighed and changed back before collapsing on his bed for the second time that night.

* * *

The next day after school Johnny had appeared and shown Danny the way to the Alliance's base, which was apparently located all the way out in the Far Frozen.

After a couple hours Danny began realizing that being around these ghosts he'd once thought of as enemies, was actually just as enjoyable as being around Tucker and Sam, if not more. The three of them used to be so close, but since _that day_ with all the secrets and layers of lies on top of lies, they just weren't the same as they used to be. But between _them_ , there weren't any secrets nor lies, there didn't have to be, so there wasn't.

Unfortunately, after a while Doc decided he had a few things to show Danny and pulled him away to his personal office. "Alright, first, are you right handed? You probably are, hold out your left arm for a second."

"Ok…?" Danny hesitantly put his arm out.

"We've all got one of these, it's just a communicator," he said while wrapping a white band with a small screen and a few controls once around his left forearm, "although with this one, I tweaked it a bit so it'll always tell you how your energy levels are _and_ it _should_ , be able to stay with you no matter what form you're in."

To test it, Danny changed back into his human form and pulled up his jacket sleeve to find the band had all but disappeared.

Doc frowned, "Well, I guess I'm still working out the bugs. Alright, but I know _this_ one will work" he said, picking up a metallic bracelet looking thing from his desk.

"What is it?" Danny asked, eyeing the thing as if it was going to start shooting lasers, which honestly wouldn't be the strangest thing.

"Basically, it's a cloaking device of sorts." he said and handed it to him, "I'm still perfecting it so it can only hold its charge for around ten minutes, but, if you're ever in a place where they have those extra sensitive sensors, you can put that on, turn it on, and it'll make you're ecto signature about 40 percent weaker and mostly untraceable."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Sweet."

"Ok last thing." He reached for one more thing from his desk, producing a small black prism with a pin on the back. "This is for if you ever end up having to talk to someone, a human who also knows your human form. Basically, you can pin it on your collar, turn it on, and it'll alter your voice, way more than your own echo can."

Danny did as the Doc had said and turned it on. "Like that? Whoa, that sounds weird" he commented at the way the pitch continuously fell and rose before switching it off again. "Thanks. They're all really helpful."

"Of course, no problem, it's kind of what I do here, well, this plus a bunch of other stuff." Doc said before going over to his desk and hitting a few keys to unlock his computer screen.

"This might sound weird, but have I met you, like before yesterday? You're voice just sounds…like I've heard it before." Danny asked.

Doc looked confused at first, but then seemed to have a realization. He hesitated his answer for another thirty seconds or so before finally finding some words. "Uh, well maybe." he started, "the day of your…accident, Clockwork sent Johnny and I so that I could make sure your ghost half was stable, make sure it wasn't killing you."

Danny suddenly thought of the voices he'd barely remembered hearing when he woke up after that. "You were there?"

Doc nodded and stacked some papers that had been scattered about, "We stayed there for a couple of hours, but we had to leave before you woke up again."

He looked at the Doc with eyes slightly widened in surprise. He'd thought he'd been all alone, for some reason never questioning how he'd ended up back in his bed. Knowing that at least someone had been there, that had cared enough to not just leave him passed out on the lab floor, and had actually stayed there for a while instead of just taking off, it was oddly comforting.

"Thanks." he said, receiving a nod in response.

Searching for some way to change the subject, Danny suddenly found himself asking, "So, why did you join the Alliance?"

Doc just looked down in deep thought before answering, "To fix my mistakes."

* * *

 **A/N: Another long one! 3200+ words!**

 **Only TWO more chapters until the new story begins! Although, remember, that doesn't mean this story is ending. This one will continue as normal, although the updates may have to be pushed to once a week, or because school will soon be another factor, once every week and a half.**

 **I'm literally so excited to start the new one XD. Been planning it all out recently and it's gonna be fun to write!**

 **UP NEXT:** _When all of Casper High gets infected by a ghost virus, it's up to Tucker to figure it out._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :)**


	29. Chapter 28

Thanks for the reviews! Here are the replies!

 **Unlucky Alis:** I'm glad the last chapter was able to live up to your expectations :D I wasn't so sure when I was writing it, but its good to know it worked out :)

 **wiseguy2415:** Yeah, that part was kind of obvious XD and I haven't seen the show you referenced, but I'll take your word for it that the characters have some similarities :)

 **Lexosaurus:** Glad you think so! :)

 **Joy Phantom:** We will see about that in the future! And nope, definitely not replacing Sam and Tucker. They are still very important, but I thought that it may be a somewhat realistic reaction for Danny to have. Since he has to hide so much from them, it's going to make them feel farther apart, like they don't completely know each other anymore, then there's suddenly this group that he doesn't have to hide from, and well, yeah. XD Lore will be included in bits and pieces along the way! Also, no no no no no no no, I LOVE reading your reviews! Sometimes you even get me to think of things I haven't even considered yet! They're very helpful with insight and motivation and never a waste of time :)

 **Dragon Historian:** Glad you're liking this AU so far! And for the episodes, I'm not going to be going over _all_ of them. Some happened very closely to how they happened in canon, while some are changed drastically or didn't happen at all, however, the basic premise remains, with the change of nobody knows and not all the ghosts are bad. :) Thanks for the input! I may go back and add in an episode or two like you mentioned, we'll see how things work out! :)

 **SraCaf33:** Yep! and thanks! :)

Thank you all who read/follow/favorite/review! Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 28

 **Doctor, Doctor**

 _Summary: When all of Casper High gets infected with some ghost virus, it's up to Tucker to figure it out._

* * *

Tucker smiled as he stored his lunch in his locker and pulled out his own original cologne. He sprayed a bit on him in hopes of talking to one of those cute chicks in his first hour class.

"Dude! _What_ is that smell?!" Danny suddenly asked from beside him, covering his mouth and nose.

"What? It cant be that bad. Its my own unique cologne, Foley. By Tucker Foley." he said with a smirk as he held out the bottle in display. Danny looked at it skeptically, "It smells like an animal died in here."

"Hm. I thought it smelled kind of like a walk through the forest." he commented.

"Yeah. A forest full of death."

"Whatever bro. I bet the ladies will love it." He said, putting the bottle away and picking up his backpack. Danny sighed while still covering his nose, "This is why you can't get a date Tuck."

As the duo started on their way to class, Sam suddenly ran up beside them. "Hey" she said before scrunching her nose up, "What's that smell?"

"Foley. By Tucker Foley." they both said in unison, one sounding enthusiastic, one disgusted. Sam shrugged, "Huh. Smells kind of weird."

They continued their walk to class and Tucker began to notice a bug flying around, then two, then three, and before they knew it there was a whole swarm going through the hallway. He looked around in confusion as some students started swatting away at the insects while others simply left or ignored them, "Dude! Where'd these all come from?!"

Danny was looking at the swarm with an almost exhausted look as Sam just seemed completely unimpressed, "What are they? They don't look like bees or mosquitos or anything."

The three of them snuck along the side of the hall where the bugs were less and thought they were in the clear until Sam cried out and slapped a hand over her arm. She began itching and scratching at it, "I think one of them bit me, or stung me, whatever they are."

"Are you ok?" Danny asked her. She nodded, "Yeah, it's nothing. Why wouldn't I be ok?" Tucker hid his smirk so that the two wouldn't see it.

"I don't know, it's just, uhh. Well, I've got to go to the bathroom before class, see you guys later." Danny said quickly before running off once again. Unfortunately, the two of them were getting pretty used to that sort of thing, so it came as no surprise, only a minor annoyance. Tucker simply sighed and glanced back down the hall.

* * *

As lunch hour came around, people had begun noticing the huge amount of students that were suddenly coming down with colds. Teachers were mildly panicked and the nurse's office was packed. The moment Tucker began to worry, was the moment that Sam came out and admitted she wasn't feeling so great. Sam rarely got sick, so the fact that she caught whatever it was only proved to Tucker that it was a real problem.

By the end of the school day the issue had only grown larger. A group of doctors had apparently been contacted to solve the problem and had taken all the students who had been infected to that creepy old hospital on the edge of town, the North Mercy Hospital. There were only around a hundred students in the whole school who had been left completely unaffected, thankfully two of them being Tucker and his best friend Danny. Although unfortunately Sam had caught it, causing the two of them worry to no end.

"How is everyone acting so calm about this? Doesn't it seem a little weird?" Tucker asked as they watched one of the doctors speaking with a group of parents.

"Could be overshadowing or mental influence." Danny said with his eyes glued on the doctor. Tucker quirked an eyebrow, "You're saying you think it could be ghosts causing this?" Danny shook his head and shrugged, "Wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen. But I guess there's only one way to find out."

* * *

An hour later the two of them had made it to just out the hospital where they were crouched down behind some bushes, spying on the guards in front of the place. "They're ghosts." Danny stated. Tucker glanced between him and the guards, "How can you tell?" Danny pointed, "They have a glow, it's small, but it's there."

He adjusted his glasses and looked closer, this time noticing that there indeed was a tiny aura surrounding them. "Dude, I thought you weren't into your parent's stuff."

"I'm not." was the only answer he received. Danny suddenly sighed, "Tuck, I hate to say this, but I think I'm starting to get sick too."

Tucker's eyes widened, "What? No, nonononononono. Not you _too_ bro!" Everyone else he knew had just come down with this virus within a day and been confined within this creepy hospital. Not to mention, there was now a good chance that this was all a bunch of ghost shenanigans. Of course he was worried.

"Calm down, this might work."

"What?!" Tucker yelled a little too loudly before Danny shushed him. "Listen, just pretend like you brought me here because I'm sick. Once I'm inside, I'll find Sam and figure out what's going on. Sound good?"

He hesitated, "It could be dangerous dude. You said it yourself, these are ghosts we're dealing with. Shouldn't we wait and let your parents, or hell, even let Phantom handle it?" Danny looked at him for a moment, "I thought you didn't trust Phantom."

Tucker sighed, "I _don't._ But- look, shouldn't we just tell your parents. They'd know what to do."

"Tuck, trust me. _Please_ just trust me." He sighed and gave in at last. Danny pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to him, "Just in case." He recognized the item as one of the Fenton's lipstick blasters. They were great for subtlety and could pack good sized blast in comparison to its size.

A couple minutes later Danny had his arm around Tucker's shoulder as they walked up to the guards. Tucker put on the most convincing face he could manage, which wasn't too hard seeing as he really was concerned, and his friend really was sick.

When they reached the guards a portion of Tucker's confidence fled him. "H-help, my friend is sick, he needs to be in the hospital. Not me. Him." When neither of them made any sign of responding he became increasingly nervous until a voice from inside spoke, "It's alright guards, stand down. Tell me, has this young man been experiencing any ghost like symptoms?" the doctor from their school asked.

Tucker had just begun debating with himself what the doctor had meant by his last question when Danny completely disappeared for a second. Tucker's eyes went wider than saucers. "Oh you poor, sick human child, it's worse than I thought! We'll take it from here."

* * *

Sam was beyond suspicious at this point. She knew there was something going on in that hospital between the lack of information or treatment anyone there was being given, to their weird ghost symptoms they were all exhibiting. She had been unfortunate enough to be stuck having to hold herself down on the bed every couple minutes when her body tried to float straight up to the ceiling.

Shivers ran through her as she quickly gripped the sides of the bed once again.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here."

She turned to her right to find a somewhat familiar face…or mask. Scrunching her eyebrows together she looked at the ghost, "What's wrong with your voice?"

"Doesn't matter. Do you know anything about what's going on here?" he asked her. She just shrugged, "Besides everyone here having some sort of ghost power, no. They aren't telling us anything, nor has anyone ever even checked on us."

"Has anyone…" his now quirky voice faded out and her eyelids began to droop. She faintly heard someone calling her name before passing out completely.

* * *

When Danny woke up in his human form strapped tightly down to a table, he tried not to panic. But it was hard not to at least a little. He'd remembered feeling really dumb when one of the doctors had revealed himself to be Bertrand, Penelope Spectra's snarky little shape shifting assistant. He would have at least punched him for everything he'd done to him in the past if it hadn't been for the gas forcing him unconscious.

When Spectra herself came in and started monologuing her big plan to use the best parts of everyone to create her own body to possess, Danny began thinking she just might be almost as fruitloopy as Vlad.

"Ok, I've heard of body sculpting, but don't you think this taking just it a _little_ too far?" he asked her, receiving an almost feral growl in response.

"Keep in mind that as soon as _I'm_ done with you, you're going straight to King Dark."

There was suddenly a loud beeping from the table across the room as Spectra hastily flew over to it.

"What is it? I'm _busy_."

"Uh, I'm sorry, it's just, we have a security issue downstairs." the voice over the intercom said hesitantly.

"Then take care of it you incompetent fool." she seethed.

"Well you see- we tried- but, we need your help-"

She slammed the off button on the intercom and turned to Danny, "I will be back to deal with you shortly, _little freak_."

As soon as Spectra slammed the door shut behind her, Danny began testing all of the usual escape methods. Spectra wasn't stupid so of course everything was ghost proofed, and since they were in the human world, human proofed as well. He tried reaching to undo one of the buckles, but that proved to be useless as well.

After a minute or so Danny heard the door carefully creak open behind him.

* * *

Tucker had just managed to break into the hospital, something he never thought he'd do, and was sneaking around in hopes of finding either Sam or Danny. He would've stayed outside, but as the time dragged on he became increasingly worried and had decided to do something about it.

He heard a familiar shout from nearby and poked his head inside a room to find, "Sam?" She looked, "Tucker? What're you doing here?"

"I was looking for you and Danny, I heard you yell" he said. "Yeah, that's cause _Paulina_ here was being a whiney bitch" she stated, pointing to the curtain divider next to her, "wait- Danny's in here too?"

"Long story. We came here because he suspected ghosts were involved. A while after we got here he started feeling sick too so he said when he got in here he'd look for you, which I'm guessing didn't work out." Tucker explained.

"No, I haven't seen him, but everyone here knows ghosts are involved. No one's been helping us and we all have some sort of weird ghost symptom." Sam said before gripping the sides of the bed again. Tucker mumbled an 'I know', thinking of all the weird stuff he'd seen up to this point already.

"Phantom was here" she said, "I was talking to him, then I smelt something and just fell asleep out of nowhere, when I woke up a couple minutes ago he was gone."

He sent her a look, "Yeah, because that _totally_ doesn't sound suspicious." She glared at him, "Not now."

"Anyways, speaking of smell, you'd be surprised how sweaty you can get from sneaking into a hospital" Tucker said before pulling his signature cologne out of his bag and spraying some on him. Sam coughed from the stench before noticing something on her arm. Tucker saw it as well as a tiny glowing bug phased right out of her skin.

"I…feel…normal now. _That_ was it? Those stupid little bugs- they're ghosts and they're infecting everyone like that?"

Tucker watched the little bug fly off, "Yeah, but why would it come out now?" She looked at the bottle he was still holding in his hand, "Tucker, your cologne! They don't like the smell of it!"

He grinned, "Sweet! So it can attract the ladies _and_ repel ghosts. I ought to patent this stuff." Sam rolled her eyes, "You think if we found an air vent and sprayed that stuff in it, that it would make all the bugs leave everyone?"

He shrugged, "Theoretically, yeah, why wouldn't it?"

"Then come on! We have a hospital to stink up!" she said, jumping out of bed and heading towards the door. Tucker suddenly heard a couple of voices in the distance and pulled Sam's hand away from the door knob, "Shh!" She sent him a quick glare before they both placed their ears near the door.

"Did you take care of the Fenton kid?"

"Yes, of course. I left him upstairs for Penelope."

"And how long is this whole operation we have going, going to take exactly?"

"We'll be done once she gets her perfect form, not that it should matter to you"

"Listen, I'm not in it for her personal wants, I'm in it for the reward. And the sooner we take that halfa to the kingdom, the sooner we get paid. So tell your lady friend to hurry it up, won't you?"

"Back off. If it were up to me you wouldn't even be getting a portion of the reward."

The two squabbling voices eventually faded away and Tucker placed two items into Sam's hand. She looked down at the bottle of cologne and the lipstick blaster in confusion. "I'm going to find Danny, you try and find an air vent to spray that into." She nodded in determination and they both snuck off, one to find a vent, the other to find the stairs.

* * *

After a few minutes, Tucker had made it to the second floor and was peeking in all the rooms. Most of the upstairs rooms were empty, although there were a couple cases where he'd almost been caught. There was a loud bang from downstairs and then he heard someone yelling from inside one of the nearby rooms and quickly ducked behind an old gurney. A moment later a demonic looking shadow lady stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut. Tucker waited until he could no longer see nor hear her before creeping up to the door and pushing it open slowly.

"Danny! Are you okay?" he asked coming up next to his friend before quickly working on undoing the buckles on the straps holding him down. "Yeah, oh man am I glad to see you, but, how'd you get in here?"

"Eh, I'll explain later, but for now we gotta go before she comes back." Danny nodded and got up as they both ran out the door and down the hall. "So we figured out that those bugs at the school were ghost bugs, and were literally phasing into everyone's skin, making them get all these weird ghost traits. And then we realized that my cologne can repel them and make them leave their hosts, so Sam's trying to find an air vent to spray some of it into right now." Tucker explained as they jogged down the hallway.

"Your cologne is a ghost repellant…somehow that actually makes a lot of sense." Danny said from just behind him.

They were half way across a hallway intersection when they both heard someone coming from the left. Tucker bolted ahead and ducked behind an old cart that had been sitting there. He looked behind him to find that Danny had instead backtracked and was hiding on the other side of the hallway. He motioned for him to keep going and Tucker reluctantly nodded before heading for the stairs.

On his way, he noticed there was an air vent in reaching distance and figured he'd tell Sam if she hadn't found one already. When he heard a sound and thought it was another person or ghost coming, Tucker ran faster and turned a quick corner, running straight into Sam. The two collided and both yelped before they realized it was just each other.

"Did you find him?" Sam asked. "Yeah but we got split up. He should be catching up any second now." Tucker said. She nodded, "I had to shoot at one of the guards and they've been chasing me since. I couldn't find any air vent on the way either."

"I saw one on our way back, it's not too far." he said before a strange, echoed voice called out from around the corner, "Where are you child? I know you're around here somewhere, you can't run forever."

Sam suddenly shoved Tucker's cologne back into his hands and charged up the lipstick blaster she was holding, "I'll distract the ghost, you find that air vent. _Go._ " she whispered. Knowing now wasn't the best time to argue with her, Tucker ran back and found the vent before spraying a considerable amount of cologne into it.

By the time he got back downstairs again, there were several students already fleeing the building both from having been returned to normal, and from the very vicious looking ghosts that were around. Someone grabbed his arm and started pulling him with them towards the doors, "Come on!" Sam yelled.

They glanced behind them and both saw the doctor from before suddenly morph into this huge green tiger now complete with claws and sharp fangs. The large cat hunched down and shifted its back feet back and forth, preparing to pounce, when it was suddenly hit from the side with an energy filled green blast.

"Go! Get out of here!" Phantom yelled to them with that weirdly fluctuating voice. It was the first time Tucker had ever seen the ghost in person. After listening to everything Sam told them, all the news stories, plus all the school's gossip, it was weird to say the least. But there was no time to think on it then as the two of them bolted for the door along with the other students of Casper High.

So that's how it happened. Tucker's weirdest school day yet. Even later when he tried to remember everything that had happened it was all just so confusing. He doubted he would ever fully understand what went on that day, but that's what happens when you live in Amity Park.

* * *

 **A/N: Woohoo! Another 3000+ word chapter! Although I feel like this one was rather rushed...definitely not one of my best chapters, but oh well.**

 **Omg! Only ONE left to go until the new story is going to kick off! I'm so hyped, I hope some of you may be too XD and just last night I came up with another storyline that I want to do in the future, although I know it's going to have to probably wait until these ones are done, but I'm kinda excited about that too XD**

 **Ugh, what I'm NOT excited for is school. First day of junior year in high school starts tomorrow for me D: Because school is starting again, updates may have to slow down a little bit, which you all can probably understand. Good news is that I don't have as many hard academic classes this year as I did last year :D First semester I only have AZ/US History and Physics, second semester is English 3, but the rest of my classes are electives :D Lol last year I only had one elective the whole year, this time it's five XD Anyways, I'll stop rambling now XD**

 **UP NEXT:** _The GIW enforce some new anti-ghost laws, and Jazz finds herself doing something she never would've thought she'd do._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have the time! Every one helps me** _ **massively**_ **with motivation and knowing what you all do and don't like about this story! :)**


	30. Chapter 29

Thanks for the reviews and here are the replies!

 **Anriedl84:** Ch 4- Cool! I didn't know if you would actually get around to reading, but I'm glad you did! Also glad you like Skulker's little twist

Ch 5- lol

Ch 6- Nope, lol just a personal tiny headcanon that Danny's never liked fruitloops cereal XD

Ch 7- Did you mean with how they agreed to do the portal project right? Sorry I didn't completely understand what you were saying there lol, but I _think_ that may have been what you meant ':D

Ch 8- Yup, it was actually some of Danny's more casual interactions with Johnny in episodes like Lucky In Love that kinda inspired me to write this XD

 **Joy Phantom:** Yeah, last one could've been a little better and a little less rushed, but hopefully this one is better :) And that would be correct. Lol when I was watching Doctors Disorders a while before I started writing this I was like 'what if Danny had to not only convince the guards, but Tucker as well that he had gotten sick?' and thus that chapter was born. And that chapter was in there mostly just because XD I'll be honest. DD is one of my favorite episodes, so I just really wanted to put it in there lol. Thanks for another awesome review! Super helpful! :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Yup, I'd say Tucker's views have changed slightly from that encounter, but I wont say whether it be for good or bad ;)

 **Parselmaster:** Thanks! Writing is not exactly something I'm looking for as a career, but I like writing about the shows I love here :)

Thank you to all who have read/followed/favorited/reviewed and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 29

 **I'm Illegally Living**

 _Summary: The GIW pass a new Anti Ecto law._

* * *

It was going for six thirty in the evening when the front door at the Fenton household flew open. Danny rushed inside having probably been expected home at least an hour earlier. He dropped his backpack near the door and walked into the living room where he found his dad watching a news report and his mom standing in the kitchen cooking dinner. The sounds of the reporters on TV mixed with the stove and microwave running in the kitchen made for a noisy mess, but that much was common for their house.

Both his parents greeted him, not even mentioning this time that he was late. They were probably just starting to get used to it after these past six, going on seven months.

Jazz was sitting peacefully at the kitchen table with her books and assignments stacked neatly all around her. The papers she was currently working on, no doubt in Danny's mind, weren't even due for another two weeks. She had this crazy obsession with always being organized and over prepared. He didn't think she'd ever once turned in an assignment late, and a missing one was simply out of the question. Basically, she was perfect and probably just about everything their parents could have ever hoped for. Smart, outgoing, studious, and a _completely_ _normal_ _human_ _being_. Yup. Everything he could never be.

Danny sent a petty glare at her, that thankfully went unnoticed. Their mom asked her for a second time to move her papers so they could set the table, and this time she moved quicker, packing up her pencils, books and papers.

Danny picked up the stack of plates his mom had taken out of the cabinet and put them around the table followed by some cups and silverware.

"So how'd that school project go?" Maddie asked out of the blue as she stirred the pot of spaghetti.

 _School project? What does she mean? Oh wait- Oh yeah. THAT 'school project'…_

Danny briefly thought back to what he'd actually been doing, a co-op mission with Johnny in LA. It was the first time he'd actually been to Los Angeles, but of course they hadn't had much time to go sightseeing. It was more of a get there, get the job done, and find the portal to take you back home kind of thing. It was supposed to be a fairly simple mission, just sneak into the GIW office building, find the hard drive holding the plans for the new chemical weapons, steal it and get out. Obviously not everything worked out like they had planned, but they got the job done in the end.

"Um, it was alright. Didn't really go as planned, but we finished." he told his mom. At least _that_ much was true.

After a couple minutes more, dinner was ready and Maddie had to remind Jack that it was on the table. Danny watched as his dad sat down at table with them wearing a big smile, "Hey Mads, guess what? They passed the bill!" Maddie's eyes lit up as her husband's smile suddenly became contagious, "Oh, that's great!"

Jazz was flicking her eyes back and forth between both of their parents, looking like she was trying to do one of her psychoanalyzing acts. Danny got a gut feeling he already knew what this was about. Jazz finally gave up on the mind reading and asked the question, "What bill?"

"Oh, the GIW passed another Anti Ecto Law. They finally banned all ghosts from our world." Maddie explained. "Yup. They've got their own realm, no need for 'em to be trespassing into ours" Jack finished.

Jazz set her fork down and took a drink, "I don't understand, wasn't it pretty much already illegal for ghosts to be here? I mean, if anyone could get away with killing one before just by claiming they felt threatened, then what more could you possibly get away with now?"

Maddie looked a bit shocked, "Jasmine, you know it's impossible to kill a ghost. They aren't alive. They can't feel or think."

 _Yeah, and I have some friends who will tell you otherwise,_ Danny thought bitterly to himself.

"Alright, so they can't be 'killed'. What do you want everyone to call it then? Destroying? Disposing of? How about 'wiping from existence'?" Jazz asked, her rarely shown hostile side coming into the light. Both their parents looked surprised and even a bit disappointed by their daughter. Danny hid a tiny smirk as he poked at his food with the fork.

"Honey, you _know_ we've only ever called it eliminating, because that's all it is. Why do you seem so bitter about this all of the sudden?" Maddie asked with a look of concern.

"I don't know, to me it just doesn't seem right that ghosts are practically given less rights than a wild animal in hunting season. They did used to be human too you know."

"But they're not human Jazzerincess. None of them are the same person they used to be, they're only reflections of a person that was once alive" their dad answered. Maddie sighed, "I thought we'd already taught you all this."

Jazz only stared at her plate for the rest of the time. Maddie turned to Danny instead, "We taught _you_ this, right? Not to sympathize with ghosts."

He looked up, "Yeah, of course mom." He said, pulling off the 'duh isn't that the most obvious thing in the world' tone. Jazz sent him a _look_ from across the table to which he almost felt like rolling his eyes. _Come on Jazz, you've always been the one to sniff out a lie from a mile away, don't believe me now._

"Good." his mom replied before they all went back to their food. The silence stretched on for several more minutes. The only sounds were from the TV in the living room and the scratching of metal forks on plates. On the news they continued to talk about the GIW and all of the laws they had set into place.

In the beginning it had only been illegal for a ghost to commit a crime or disturb the peace. Then came along the mind control laws. Overshadowing a human obviously had become illegal, but then there was the issue of some humans committing crimes and blaming it on overshadowing, in which the humans often ended up getting away with it and the ghost hunted down for _their_ 'crime'. After that people had begun claiming they didn't feel safe with ghosts around, so it became legal for humans eighteen and older to carry an anti ecto weapon on them at all times. They did have to have a license to do so, but getting one was apparently really easy. Later they invented ghost weapons that were guaranteed to be one hundred percent harmless to humans, so children thirteen and older were allowed to carry one of those. Again, they had to get a license to carry it, but almost anyone could.

After that point it only got worse. It had then been decided that ghosts would be granted no human rights, putting them down to probably about a house pet's level. Then they officially made ghost hunting legal to any individual citizen or business with a license, and soon after experimentation became legal for those people as well.

From there it got worse even for the _humans_ when they placed the 'no collusion' act into place. It basically outlawed any ghosts from interacting with humans and vise versus. The human could go to jail or have to pay a fine, and the ghost would be hunted and either experimented on or 'eliminated'.

So yes, it was a pretty fucked up world at the time. Humans got away with things by blaming it on ghosts and ghosts constantly attacked humans in their own world.

No one was right any more than they were wrong. Both sides had their flaws and they couldn't get along.

Coming back into the real world, Danny twirled his fork in his left hand, something he'd gotten used to doing when he didn't want to call any attention to his other hand with the weird cut off glove. No had realized yet that they hadn't seen him without that glove since August, and hopefully they never would. Especially since then they'd get suspicious and ask him to take it off, and all they'd see was a massive green scar that trailed up his wrist and arm.

While he was distracted in his thoughts, Danny hadn't noticed Jazz staring in confusion at his other hand. "What's that bruise?" she asked, causing his parents to look too.

He blinked, "What?"

"On your hand! How'd you get it?" she asked.

He looked down at his left hand, finally noticing the large purplish blue splotch that wrapped around near his knuckles. There were small hints of green blood just beneath the surface, but thankfully they couldn't see that. He'd almost completely forgotten that the mark was even there. It had hurt a bit at the time, but with an added healing factor the pain was barely noticeable after a couple hours.

 _They had almost found the hard drive, no one had noticed them yet either. It seemed since this building was only an office and not one of the GIW's labs, they had significantly less security, but don't get them wrong, there was still a lot of security, just not as much as at one of their labs._

 _Danny had been standing on watch while Johnny found what they needed. After a bit more of rummaging through items and files in the cabinet, he finally found the right one, "Yes, I got it kid, now let's get outta here."_

 _It was just after he had closed the cabinet again, that the alarm finally rang. Both of their eyes widened at the sound and not a moment later the door to the room they were in was sliding shut._

 _Danny, being the closest, grabbed the door just before it could trap them inside. He yelled as his hand nearly got crushed and pulled the door back open with all he had. "Go!"_

 _Johnny shoved the hard drive into one of his pockets and flew through the opening. Danny followed him out and let go of the door, allowing it to finally slam closed and lock._

"Oh yeah, it got stuck in a door at school. But it doesn't really hurt anymore, just looks bad." Danny explained. Everything was about telling half truths these days. It may not have been at school, but everything else he'd said had been true.

"Are you sure? It looks painful" his mom said in concern.

He nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, it's fine."

Why must almost everything he says have to be twisted with some sort of lie? Everything was becoming lies, on top of lies, on top of _more_ lies. No one even had a clue that half his life was simply a narrative being written by him each day, becoming more and more complex by the week. No one had a clue that even then, sitting there having dinner with them was a crime. Literally.

The humans just see another average human when they look at him, and that's the way it's supposed to be. They won't ever find out that he's been breaking laws just by existing here in this world, but then again, there's a lot of things they'll never find out.

* * *

 **When Miss Goody Two Shoes Broke the Law**

 _Summary: Jazz finds herself doing something she never would've thought she'd do._

* * *

She'd been hearing the screams and cries all afternoon. It was a Saturday and she was the only one home besides her parents down in the basement lab. They had managed to catch a ghost sometime earlier that day and had probably been interrogating it ever since.

 _They_ didn't mind the sound of course, since they thought it wasn't real. Ghosts can't feel _real_ pain. They can't feel _real_ emotions, so why should they care? They'd probably also assumed Jazz had no problem with the noise, seeing as she had grown accustomed to living in a noisy home, but boy were they wrong. She grown used to the sound of machinery, loud music, tools, hammering, blenders, you name it, but this sound was one she couldn't ignore.

This sound was unnerving, it made her feel anxious. She had put aside her schoolbooks and everything else she'd been working on because she just couldn't focus with that _sound_. She felt highly disturbed by it.

When her parents had told her they were going out for a little while, there hadn't been any hesitation in her. The _moment_ they left she was heading down the stairs to the lab.

Soon enough she found herself standing by the table where the ghost of a little girl was tied down. She looked weak and exhausted, not to mention terrified. Her glowing yellowish eyes were wide as they stared into Jazz's.

Jazz hardly realized what she was doing when she found and pressed the release button on the side of the table. The ghost girl didn't even dare to move just yet, seeing as she had no idea why she was suddenly being let go.

Jazz glanced over to the wall where the portal doors were shut and walked over to the passcode box on the wall. She typed in the code she knew and the doors slid open with an audible screech.

The little ghost stared in awe.

"Go on. You're free. Go home." Jazz said to her, still not entirely aware of what she was doing. The ghost eventually got up from the table and flew toward the portal unsteadily. She whispered out a shy 'thanks' before stumbling through the vortex.

Jazz closed the portal after the little ghost girl had gone through and walked back upstairs to her room, comprehending what she'd just done. By the time she'd made it to her bed and collapsed on it, she had determined that yes, what she had just done was illegal, but it wasn't anything like she'd thought.

She used to think that if she were _ever_ to do something against the law, she'd be wracked with guilt for the rest of her life, and she knew that if it had been anything else she had done, then yes, that would have been true. But why didn't she regret what she'd just done? It was illegal.

Well maybe it was because she knew in this case it had been right. She realized she probably would have been more regretful if she _hadn't_ released that little ghost.

So, did she break a law? Yes. Would she get away with it? Probably yes, because she could easily convince her parents the ghost must have escaped on her own. But did she regret her decision? No. Not in the least.

* * *

 **A/N: DISCLAIMER: I am in no way encouraging anyone to break the law. Don't do it. The characters in this story do because it is fiction. Do not do it in real life.**

 **Ok, so this chapter was actually pretty fun to write. It was nice making these more oneshot like and not packed full of plot.**

 **GUESS WHAT GUYS?! The new story can officially start now! Look out for the introduction and first chapter of Taken By Storm (will be referencing it as TBS from now on in these notes). Hope you all will enjoy that one too! Going to start putting up the Intro and ch 1 as soon as this gets posted!**

 **TBS will take place starting at the beginning of junior year, which is kind of funny as I've also just started junior year in high school XD right now in THIS story, we are around February of freshman year, so it's going to be a bit of a jump. _This_ story will continue on _this_ timeline, completely separate from TBS. This is all of what has happened leading up to TBS :)**

 **UP NEXT:** _Sam gets an idea for a new school club and goes to Lancer for advice._

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :) Also, be sure to check out Taken By Storm when it is released (which will be in just a few minutes lol)!**


	31. Chapter 30

Thank you for the reviews and here are the replies!

 **Parselmaster:** That is true :)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Don't worry, they definitely still care :) and same! I loved episodes with Johnny/Kitty/Shadow because it's not like they were ever hell bent on taking over the world, thus it makes for some interesting, kind of casual interactions between them all XD You're right, Jazz has only just begun lol.

Thank you to everyone who has read/favorited/followed/reviewed! Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 30

 **Household Tensions**

 _Summary: Sam wants nothing more than for them to stop._

* * *

Sam unlocked her front door and slipped silently inside. Only a few lights were still on in the house at this hour and she'd assumed her parents and grandmother had already gone to bed, seeing as it was past midnight. She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and headed stealthily for the stairs, only to be halted by the sound of her mother's voice.

"Where have you _been_ young lady?"

She winced at the accusatory tone, not that it was uncalled for, however. Sam slumped and groaned quietly, hoping neither of her parents heard it.

"You were supposed to be back hours ago." her father stated, his voice holding both anger and concern.

"I know, sorry." Sam grumbled. She _really_ didn't want to listen to her parent's lectures for another hour or more. All she wanted to do was walk upstairs to her room, shut the door, and let her parents just go to bed as well. She didn't want to waste all of their times listening to them ramble on about stuff she already knew.

"We were worried _sick_. Where were you? Why wouldn't you answer your phone every time we called?"

"My phone died. I was just hanging out with some people after the protest, it's fine, really. Sorry I didn't call, ok?" she knew she was pushing it a bit, but at least by now her parents were fairly used to her rebellious nature.

"No. No it's _not_ ok. Samantha-"

"Can we _please_ just drop it? I promise I'll call next time." Sam pleaded. She didn't have the patience for this right now.

"There won't _be_ a next time." her father said with his arms crossed. The lighting was dim, but Sam could clearly make out the look of disapproval written on his face. Her mother continued, "Until you can learn to come home on time, and actually tell us where you go, no more going to those low life protests. We shouldn't have even let you go to this one."

Her eyes widened, "What? But Mother this one was important, you don't understand-"

"No, _you_ don't understand." her father said firmly, "You don't understand how much we worry every time we don't know _where_ you are, _how_ to contact you, _why_ you won't respond."

"It's not like anything's ever happened! I'm _fine._ "

"No. Nothing's happened _yet._ You're so used to it here that you hardly realize how _dangerous_ it is to be out there at night, alone and unprotected." her mother said. Sam rolled her eyes slightly, having heard this same spiel at least a hundred times. "And don't you roll your eyes at me" she said, having seen the action, "You get so wrapped up in your own little world about ghosts being goodhearted, innocent people, _well_ _they're_ _not_."

Sam's eyes narrowed as her mother continued, "You need to _wake_ _up_ and realize that you are living in a city that is overrun by these- these supernatural _freaks_ every night. They _will_ hurt you if you let them."

Sam's blood was boiling as her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands.

Her mother sighed, losing some of her anger, "How are we supposed to know if you're even alright when you don't talk to us? We never know during all your late nights if you're just being a rebellious teenager or attacked by some super powered monster." She rubbed a hand over her eyes, "If you can't realize the danger in this city, maybe we'd all be better somewhere else…"

Her eyes shot open even wider as her stomach twisted after realizing what her mother had meant by those words. "You mean move?! No! No way! Never!" She'd realize later that her mother hadn't really been serious about moving, but in that moment all she could think of was how tragic it would be for her if they _did_ move. In only an instant, thoughts of her best friends, her blog, all the protests she'd gone to and planned to go to, everything she loved about this city, flew through her mind and it felt like a small void had just opened up inside her just _thinking_ about the effects it would have on her.

A few tears began to well up in her eyes and her emotional self defense system took control of her mind. "I'M NEVER LEAVING! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" she yelled and immediately turned to storm up the stairs. The defense system had been successful. Rage followed by a fuming exit from the scene.

Sam's heavy boots rattled the stairs as she found herself thankful that her innocent old grandma was a heavy sleeper. When she got to her room, she slammed her door shut and clicked the lock. Of course, if either of her parents _really_ wanted to get in, they could just use the little key above the door, but it still felt better hitting the lock.

She wasted no time throwing herself onto the plush comforters of her bed and laid there for a few minutes to clear her mind. Neither of her parents could ever understand. All they ever thought about when she went out was the chance of a ghost attacking her. There was no arguing with them that that very well _could_ happen, everyone knew that, but it made it seem like they didn't trust her. Didn't believe she could take care of herself. But they should _know_ that she was aware of the dangers, and they should _know_ that she could defend herself just fine, she _has_ been carrying an ectogun since the day she turned thirteen after all.

"They need to stop being such worry warts. And control freaks." she sighed.

After a couple moments more, Sam turned on her laptop, turned out the light, and put a jacket under her door so her parents wouldn't see the lights from her laptop and come to scold her some more for still being awake.

On her computer, she opened up the tab with her blog and read through the recent activity. It was nothing new really, just the usual crap load of people either siding with her on her posts, trying to fight her, or trying to fight the people trying to fight her. _Yep, that's the internet for you._

When she began scrolling through her home page, her eyes began to catch bits and pieces of a recent story. Sam clicked open another tab and went to the Ghost Watch official website. Sure enough, the top story was there with a link to the live stream and a headline.

 _GIW LEAKED VIDEO SHOWS DISTURBING EXPERIMENTATION_

Her hand flew to the finger pad as she clicked on the link. After a good thirty seconds of buffering, the news cast came on screen and she plugged her headphones into her laptop. Tiffany Snow, one of the company's main anchors, was on with a guest speaker, the previous headline displayed across the bottom of the screen along with the channel's logo.

"-are your thoughts on the video?" Tiffany asked her guest. "I think it's disgusting. I don't understand how a government security branch is still running like this. This is just- I don't even have the words for it. It's horrible. They need to be shut down."

Tiffany nodded in comprehension, "So you think the whole organization needs to go. What about the security they _do_ provide for haunted cities, like here in Amity Park? Do they get rid of all that too? Because despite all the bad rap they're getting, they actually do protect many citizens." This caused the guest to become frustrated and the fast editing crew had to work some of their magic.

"No. f**k them all. They ain't saving no one, so they can all just go to hell." Tiffany smiled a little, trying to hold back a laugh, "Alright, alright. Then what do you have to say about the facts? It says here that deaths and injuries due to spectral attacks have decreased by seven percent since the GIW began enforcing the Anti Ecto Acts and installing more traps." Tiffany said. "Well whose side are you on, huh?" the guest asked somewhat accusingly. "I'm not on any side, I'm just saying, those are the facts. Less people have gotten hurt, the more role the GIW has played in these haunted cities." The guest shook their head, "No way. F**k them. They've done nothing 'cept murder innocent people." Realizing the guest wasn't going to answer her question, she cut in, "I'm sorry, we're out of time, thank you for your opinions." Tiffany then went on to introduce her second guest, a guy that looked to be in his upper twenties, maybe lower thirties give or take.

"Jason, thanks for being here. We're looking for people's reactions to the _leaked_ video of a couple of GIW agents doing some rather disturbing experiments. We'll show a clip of the video now, but please be warned, viewer discretion is advised. If you have young children around, I would not suggest watching this."

After a moment a video clip appeared on the screen. The video was shaky and vertical, probably taken from one of the guys' phones, which was surprising on its own. You'd think an agency like the GIW would be more strict on their employee security.

Sam watched in horror filled rage as the video went on with the two or three GIW personnel basically torturing an ectoplasmic energy blob. It wasn't humanoid, but any moron could tell it still had sentience by its squirming and screams. The clip shown on the news was obviously only a portion of the full video, but by the end of it Sam felt like throwing up.

Soon the news cast returned with both speakers looking disheartened. "Very disturbing" Tiffany said somewhat quietly, "Jason, your thoughts on this video and how it affects the GIW?" Jason nodded, "Well it is pretty hard to watch, I'm not going to deny that, but from what we've been hearing from the GIW Director Axel, who has spoken out about the video, fortunately this is not the norm there."

"So this was an isolated incident. How do we know then for a fact that other, or even _all_ GIW operations aren't like this?" Tiffany asked, sounding a bit skeptical. "Um, well we don't know for sure, obviously, but we do at least know that the three agents in this video were fired almost immediately after the video was leaked."

Sam continued to watch the livestream on her laptop until it was almost two in the morning. Most of the speakers said similar things to the first two, some outraged and some remaining calm and collected, while there were also a few speakers from the other side of the spectrum, voicing the world wide brainwash about ghosts not being able to feel anything in the first place.

The whole thing left a sour taste in Sam's mouth as she laid in bed, her mind searching desperately for something that could be done. She knew she was going to be hearing a lot of gossip about the video at school the next day, or technically later that same day at this point.

 _Wait a minute…_

 _School. That's it!_

As her eyes finally slipped shut, Sam knew exactly what she was going to do once she got to school. Something she should have thought of ages ago.

* * *

 **Taking A Stand**

 _Summary: Mr. Lancer receives a visit during his lunch break from one of his students, and she's got some big ideas._

* * *

Edward Lancer sighed as he sat back down at his desk and rubbed a hand over his bald head in an attempt to ease his small headache. Currently, it was his lunch break, but instead of spending the time with his coworkers in the teacher's lounge like usual, he'd decided to stay in his classroom and grade yesterday's tests.

He took a bite out of his Subway sandwich and begrudgingly looked down at the next test. Several questions were left blank and the ones that weren't had nonsensical answers scribbled down. A few words here and there were so messy in fact, that they hardly looked like they were in English at all. It was no surprise to Lancer to find Danny Fenton's name also scribbled at the top of the page. About thirty-one out of the total of fifty questions had been answered, which was honestly at least a bit impressive seeing as his most notorious student had been missing from class for most of the test.

Just after Lancer jotted down a score at the top of the test packet, the door to his classroom opened and another one of his students walked in.

"Ah, Miss Manson. What can I do for you?" he asked.

Samantha hesitated before asking, "Have you seen the news from last night, about the GIW leaked video thing?"

Lancer pondered for a moment before recalling overhearing many students talking about something that had to do with the government's ghost security branch. "No, not entirely, although I have heard a lot of students talking about it, unfortunately while they were supposed to be doing classwork…why do you ask?"

"It gave me an idea, and I was wondering if you would want to host a school club, or maybe tell me someone who would, if you don't." she said. He didn't even have to ask to know what she wanted to form a school club for, it was pretty obvious if you knew who Sam was.

He contemplated her request. Most of the other teachers who hosted clubs always seemed very happy about it and often truly enjoyed them. Plus, he knew Samantha held very strong opinions, and that a good portion of the school seemed to share them, and while he wasn't completely on either side, he did want to help his students (despite what they sometimes thought), if this was one way he could do that, then he'd be glad to. Lords knows he had the time for it.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Well, I know there are a lot of students here that support ghost's rights, so I thought it'd be cool to have our own school club, y'know, we could maybe try going to some of the peaceful protests, or have fundraisers to donate to the smaller ghost hunting businesses that don't treat them unfairly. Stuff like raising awareness about what some of the businesses are doing."

Lancer nodded in understanding, "I know you're very passionate about this, and I know some other students who are too. I say as long as we can keep a no violence policy, I'll be willing to host it."

Sam's eyes lit up, heavily contrasting her dark and gloomy makeup. "Seriously? Thanks!"

He gave her a small smile. While he was known for being one of the stricter teachers of Casper High, he'd always still care deeply about all of his students.

It was a week later when they announced the first club meeting over the morning announcements. They had more of a turn out than Sam had originally imagined with students from all the social classes, like the nerds, the geeks, the band kids, theater kids, cheerleaders, even a good number of jocks like Dash had shown up.

Looking around the packed classroom afterschool Sam realized so many people had shown up, except for the two people she had been hoping the most for. She'd hoped Tucker and Danny would at least come to the first meeting, even if it was only because they were friends, but for whatever reasons she had been let down by them both. And it wasn't the first time since high school had begun some eight months ago.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry the updates got pretty slow this week. I'm working on the 2nd chapter of TBS currently, so hopefully that will be up within these next couple days. :)**

 **More activist stuff from Sam :P Personally, I'm not into all the activist type stuff, but since it is part of Sam's character, and works very well within this AU, I am going to continue with it.**

 **Hope you're all enjoying so far and remember to check out Taken By Storm (TBS) if you like this story/AU! Just started!**

 **UP NEXT:** Their group has been split, and Tucker doesn't know how to fix it.

 **See ya soon and please review if you have time! :) Every review helps me both with motivation, and knowing what readers do and don't like, so I can better this story for you!**


	32. Chapter 31

Thanks for the reviews and here are the replies!

 **wiseguy2415:** haha, yes, I know it's frustrating waiting for a reveal and while I will say it won't be for a little while, it is still coming :)

 **snoopykid:** Eventually, yes! Won't deny that lol. ;)

 **Unlucky Alis:** Lol yeah, the Mansons frustrate me too XD that's kinda why they're fun to write though lol. Also, yes. This club will be in TBS, it won't be huge, but it'll be there occasionally. I'm only saying that much because it's not very spoiler oriented. And as you'll soon see in this chapter, Tucker's not completely brainwashed XD he's got a few reasons, but I'll let you read that part to find out for yourself ;)

 **Joy Phantom:** You'll get to see here why tucker wasn't there ;) Also, yes that is correct, this is still stuff that leads up to TBS and TBS will have a lot of focus on the Ghost Zone (although not entirely). :)

 **Dragon Historian:** Lol, yeah I'm kind of surprised too XD and all of that is coming! :)

 **SilverBlood5:** That's true, major bumps in the road are in store, we'll see how they play out ;)

Thank you to everyone who has read/followed/favorited/reviewed! It is very appreciated! Enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 31

 **Split**

 _Summary: Their group has been split and Tucker doesn't know how to fix it._

* * *

Tucker watched as Sam sat across from him at their lunch table. Her nails were tapping aggressively against the tabletop as she glared at the vending machine in the corner of the cafeteria. While her eyes remained on the snack machine, Tucker knew her thoughts were elsewhere.

The rest of the lunch room was abuzz with the chatter of students who were just glad it was finally lunch hour, but at their table there was only an uneasy silence. He didn't dare say anything to Sam. She was obviously pissed off about one, or possibly a number of things. The way her gaze remained averted and the stiffness of her shoulders made the atmosphere around them feel heavier by the moment, like she was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.

He knew she had been upset with both him and Danny the previous week when neither of them bothered to give her any support or company at her first club meeting after school. Apparently it meant more to her than either of them had known and when neither of her best friends had shown, it had struck a nerve.

Tucker _did_ regret not going to at least just the first meeting, if only for her, but he also had his own reasons. When it came to all the ghost controversy in Amity Park, he wanted nothing more than to block it all out. Some might say it sounded pretty ignorant, but after being around it his whole life, he was just so done with it all.

First off, there was the fact that Danny's parent were some of the most famous ghost hunters out there. Every time they were over at his house it seemed like he heard it at least five times about how much damage ghosts do to the city and how they needed to be eliminated from the Earth. He honestly had no idea how Danny and Jazz put up with it so much.

Next, there was the internet. With Tucker's obsession for technology, he was always online, only thing is, it's basically become a battleground for people on both sides of the issues. No matter how much he tried to avoid searches and pages that would bring up the controversy, they always came back, not to mention, some people were just _so_ sensitive about it that he had to watch every word he typed.

There were also his own parents. His dad worked as a technician in a GIW office building. His job was simple there and he'd mostly taken it for the salary. He even told Tucker that he sees more ghosts driving home than he ever has at the office. However, despite his dad's very low involvement in the GIW, a couple people who had found out and didn't like it had taken to bullying Tucker for it, whether it was online, in person, verbally, or physically. Of course it didn't make any sense for them to go after him, just because of his dad's job, but that's how some people were.

His mom's job just made it worse. She was a doctor at Amity General Hospital, so every couple days or so Tucker would usually end up hearing about how someone else had gotten hurt or almost died in a ghost attack.

It was obvious why he had grown to resent the topic of ghosts. In his personal life, all Tucker heard about ghosts was bad, yet people were claiming what the GIW was doing was sick and inhumane, that they're not all bad. It becomes confusing when everyone sounds like and thinks they're right. When it became _too_ confusing, Tucker had decided he just didn't want to hear any more of it.

So in the end, he'd had his own understandable reasons for not wanting to go to the meeting, although Danny was another story. A story that he'd been able to read his whole life until high school when it was suddenly translated into another language.

Tucker had no idea why Danny hadn't gone. It could've been anything, from the same or similar reasons as himself, to doing one of his 'disappear off the face of the earth' acts again, to simply forgetting that there even _was_ a meeting. A year ago, Tucker would have been able to figure it out quite easily, but now it was like walking into a college honors calculus class and trying to guess the right answer to a random problem.

Tucker became lost in his own world, partly intended, partly not, as Danny and Sam got into another loud argument. It was the second time that month.

From the bits of the fight that had managed to get through to Tucker, he could tell that Sam was pissed about Danny always ditching them or something, while Danny was trying to argue something about not having to do _everything_ with them _all_ the time.

Eventually the fight ended and no surprise to Tucker, they were bitter about it for the rest of that day, and the next. He doubted the two of them spoke at all to each other in that time, and even though he wasn't directly involved in it, they didn't speak that much with him either.

He knew it would blow over within a few days, just as it had every other time it happened, but the damage was never completely undone. Every time they argued they pulled a little farther away from each other.

Their group was splitting apart and Tucker just didn't know what to do about it.

* * *

Dinner at the Foley household was late that night, not that it was all that unusual however, due to Angela having some odd shifts at the hospital. It was meatloaf night, one of the family's favorites, which was able to lift Tucker's mood slightly.

"Hey, son, you've been kind of down lately, is everything alright?" his dad asked him.

Tucker shrugged and prodded at the chunk of beef on his plate, "Eh, just another argument at school."

It was quiet for a moment as both his parents waited to see if he'd elaborate any more on the subject.

"Sam's just mad neither Danny or I went to this club meeting with her after school, plus Danny's been acting really weird lately, like he's ignoring us. But whatever, it'll blow over soon now" he finished.

He knew he was lucky, his parents were pretty calm and understanding usually, which made it easy to actually talk to them about school and friend stuff.

"Why _don't_ you try going with her? It is a school club, right? What's this all about?" his mom asked.

He frowned, "I don't know, she asked Lancer to host a school club about all that activist stuff she's into."

His dad nodded in understanding while his mom also pieced together why he didn't want to go. They continued dinner in peace for a little bit before his mom finally returned to the subject, having been thinking about it.

"Well son, I know it might not be your favorite subject in the world, but maybe it'd be good to try going to a meeting."

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "What? I mean, don't know, it's just…" he trailed off.

"You don't have to keep going if you don't like to, but maybe it'd help Sam if you at least went to one. You never know, you might even like it!" his dad added.

Tucker chuckled, "I thought you weren't allowed to promote going to those things."

"Ah, who cares, it's afterhours." he replied with a grin.

Angela smiled, "Your pa's right though, it could at least help with whatever argument is going on between you."

He nodded as he took one more slice of meatloaf from the serving dish and sliced it up into smaller chunks. They were probably right. Even if he didn't really want to be there for his own interests, he should probably at least try to be there for his best friends, lord knows they'd been there for him more times than he could recall.

Tucker still didn't know what Danny's excuse had been, nor would he probably ever. He also didn't know how to fix whatever gap Danny had been seeming to form between them since the start of the school year, but he did have an idea now as to fixing a bit of him and Sam's friendship.

Yes, the three of them were slowly but surely drifting apart. The seams that had held them together for so long were wearing down, splitting and breaking. They didn't always go to each other for whatever reasons as much as they used to and they didn't hang out after school nearly as much as they had in elementary and middle school. However, old bonds still held strong with little signs of decay. Nothing could split them apart completely, no matter how big or small.

Tucker knew all the tape and band aids that had been put down to hold them together wouldn't actually _heal_ anything, but now there was a new opportunity to make amends.

Now there was a needle and thread sitting there, and even if the thread wasn't long enough to fix everything, he'd gladly stitch together what he could.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter unfortunately isn't quite as long as I usually shoot for, but hopefully it still worked out alright. A lot of y'all were seeming kind of mad at Tucker with the last chapter, so here's this one to explain things a little better XD**

 **Updates have been slowing down a bit due to school projects, art projects, and school art projects lol. I also just recovered from a tiny cold I had, it was small, but still kept me from wanting to sit down and write a chapter.**

 **The reviews have told me that many of you want to see more of the trio's dynamic, so I'll try and add some more of that in for future chapters!**

 **I hope you all and your families are safe from hurricane Harvey! I've been seeing it all over the news and online, looks terrible, so I do sincerely hope none of you are horribly affected by it, nor your friends or families!**

 **I am working on the third chapter of TBS just in case anyone was wondering about how that's going :)**

 **UP NEXT:** Getting an emergency call in the middle of a timed test sucks, but what can you do when every fiber of your being forces you not to ignore it?

 **See ya soon and please review if you've got the extra time! It really helps out a lot with motivation and knowing what readers do/don't like, or want to see more/less of! :)**


	33. Chapter 32

Thank for the reviews and here are the replies!

 **Joy Phantom:** Lol, yeah I update the ToC every once in a while. Not sure yet, I may add in a chapter with a meeting in it later though :) Also, I'd love to help. I'm no professional writer, but I can at least tell you how I plan long stories. :) Step 1: Ideas. Get lots of ideas together for concepts, major plot points, and even individual scenes/chapters. Music helps me a lot with this. I get 95% of my story ideas from listening to stuff, whether it's pop, oldies, movie soundtracks, whatever. Even _this_ chapter was based on a song from a movie score XD Step 2: Write/type out all your ideas, and see how they work together. Step 3: Choose the ideas you're keeping and arrange them to begin to fit together into one bigger story. Step 4: Add in the filler stuff by going through each chapter and jotting down what events will unfold in each. And finally, Step 5: Follow your outline and write up those chapters! Don't forget to _always always always_ REVISE. _That_ is how you make sure it doesn't read like a five year old got on word pad XD Let me know when you get it going! I'd love to read it and I hope this helps you at least a bit! :)

 **Lexosaurus:** Poor Tucker indeed XD

 **Unlucky Alis:** Yeah, high school isn't as great for them as they'd imagined. That needle/thread thing really came out of nowhere when I was writing it, so I'm glad that worked XD Real life can suck sometimes lol. And maybe I should do that sometime XD

 **WolfMistwood:** Glad you liked that bit! And we'll see about that in the future! Maybe, maybe not. Also, lol, no he's really not that great in the friend zone currently.

* * *

Chapter 32

 **Can't Ignore A Call For Help**

 _Summary: Getting an emergency call in the middle of a time test sucks, but hey, what can you do?_

* * *

 _Give a brief summary of the events in chapter 21 (Minimum of 7 sentences)._

 _Well, fuck. How am I supposed to know what happened in chapter twenty one if I've only read up to chapter five?_

Danny tapped his pencil on the desk in frustration and looked back at the clock again. It had only been ten minutes, but it felt like so much longer after getting stuck only on the second problem of their unit three English test. The first question had been multiple choice, so it was easy just to take a random guess, but unfortunately the rest of the questions on the front page were written response.

He'd been staring at number two for the past eight minutes. He would've just moved onto number three, but the problem was he had no idea how to answer that one either, or four, or five, or six…

The room was quiet for once, which was quite a feat when you're talking about a room full of high school freshmen. Every creek of a chair, every paper flipped or crinkled, every key Mr. Lancer hit on his keyboard, it all stood out blatantly against the silence.

Both lights in the classroom had been flicked on today, making it begrudgingly extra bright and starting to give Danny a headache. All the colors in the room popped out, looking to him almost like someone had taken a picture and doctored it to increase the hue and color intensity. It had been like that for him for the past seven or eight months, and it was one side effect from the accident that Danny still resented. It was like a billboard only he could see saying, 'You Are Not A Human Being'. Sometimes it felt like he was forgetting what the world looked like to normal people, and he hated it.

He glanced back up at the clock once more. Two more minutes had passed.

Giving up, he flipped the test over to the next page and was happily surprised to find a few more multiple choice questions. He went through about five or six of them, understanding a few, guessing on the rest. At least there was a twenty five percent chance of getting each one of those right.

As Danny was reading the next question, he suddenly felt a familiar buzz on his left forearm followed by a voice in his ear.

"Hey, Dipstick, you there? This is kinda _really_ urgent, so you better pick up."

He glanced over everyone in the class and especially Lancer to make sure no one was looking anywhere in his direction. It was pretty nice to be sitting in the back corner of the room right by the door during times like these.

Danny pulled up his jacket sleeve just enough to type in a quick response into the communications band on his arm.

 _cant talk what is it_

"It's a long story, but Youngblood got mad and ran off to Amity. We just got the alarm that one of the fed's traps went off, we're really worried he got caught. Johnny just left, but he won't make it there before _they_ do and there's no other ghost in the area that could make it on time" Ember said in a big rush.

"Where." Danny demanded, not paying any attention to the couple of students around him that sent weird glances.

"Near 5th and Main, there's only about four minutes left until the feds can get there."

"On my way."

Danny was already out of his seat and throwing his incomplete unit test into the turn in box before bolting out the door, not even caring about whatever Lancer had to say about it.

Within fifteen seconds he was out of the building and heading for downtown.

Flying as fast as possible, Danny watched the street numbers below get lower and lower until he reached 5th Ave and took a sharp left down the street. Some people walking on the sidewalks looked up curiously at the sight of their city's own ghost vigilante rushing down the street, others just glanced and shrugged before returning to whatever they had been doing.

Danny pulled to a stop as soon as he made it to the 5th and Main intersection. Looking around frantically, he found nothing out of the ordinary, just tall buildings, cars, and people going by.

There was a squawk from behind and he turned around to find a familiar bony bird flying there.

 _Oliver._

The loyal little parrot squawked once more before flying off between a couple of buildings, beckoning Danny to follow. Wasting no time, he trailed the bird all the way down into a back alley.

Youngblood was stuck in one of the GIW's special anti-phase nets, looking rather panicked. He thrashed around in an attempt to escape, but only managed to get himself more entangled in the net.

"Youngblood! Hey, _calm down_." Danny said, landing just beside him.

The younger ghost looked up at him with wide eyes before a little relieved smile snuck its way onto his face, "How did you…?"

Danny pulled a knife from his belt and began cutting a hole out of the net. Those types of traps were sticky and hard to get out of, but at least they were easy to cut. "We always know when these things go off, remember?"

Youngblood didn't reply, just watched as Danny cut through another tie in the net. A moment later Danny felt something on his shoulder and flinched before realizing it was just Oliver, who had apparently flown off and come back again. The bird made some indecipherable sounds in his ear. "What did he say?" Danny asked.

"He said there's a couple white vans almost here." Youngblood repeated, a bit of fear seeping into his echoed voice.

"Shit." He said and began cutting away at the net even faster.

"That's a bad word." The younger ghost informed.

"Yeah and don't repeat it or I'll never hear the end of it from the others if I 'corrupted your innocent young mind'." Danny never completely understood why they cared so much if he said something iffy around Youngblood, the rest of them cursed around him all the time. The only answer he'd ever gotten from asking about it was 'he looks up to you'. _Yeah, right. Then he needs to find a better role model than a half ghost wanted criminal._

Behind them there was a screeching of wheels and car doors slamming shut. They all glanced to find two white vans stopped at the end of the alley and five or six GIW agents heading towards them with ectoguns in hands. Danny sliced one more tie. Four high pitched whines rang out.

"Freeze!"

The air felt thick suddenly, like any wrong move could trigger a chain of events, which was honestly probably true. Danny stilled before slowly and carefully cutting the last link in the net.

"I said _freeze_!" the agent shouted again.

He smirked a little, unnoticeable to the agents and began to focus on the freezing cold of his core. It was a fairly new ability, one that Frostbite had only informed him about around a month ago, but he'd been practicing it quite a bit ever since.

"Well…you did ask for it." Danny said and within a moment there was a wall of ice separating the three of them from the agents, who wasted no time and instantly shot at the barrier. The ice held firm against the first round of shots, but began to crack by the second.

"Come on" he said and held open the slit he had cut in the net. Youngblood crawled out and yelped as another shot left a large crack in the wall and began splintering outward. Danny, with Oliver still perched on his shoulder, scooped up Youngblood and dove invisibly and intangibly through the building next to them, just before the ice completely shattered.

He kept going for a few minutes, wanting to put as much distance between them and the GIW as possible. None of them said anything the whole way, just observed the city below. The late February air was chilly, especially up in the air, but of course none of them were all that bothered by it.

Eventually Danny found a rooftop, void of any prying eyes or traps, and landed there. Oliver fluttered off his shoulder and landed on the wall that went around the edge of the roof. He sighed and set Youngblood down on top of what was probably some sort of AC unit. "What were you thinking?"

"Other ghosts come here all the time! Why shouldn't _I_ be able to?!" Youngblood yelled.

"Because it's dangerous! Not every ghost that comes here makes it back. _You_ almost didn't make it back" Danny said. There had already been one too many cases where the GIW had gotten there before he could.

"But…you came" Youngblood said quietly.

He sighed, "You got lucky. What if for some reason I hadn't been able to come? No one else would've been able to get to you on time. And you know it. We've told you _so_ many times, so why do you keep risking it?"

The silence stretched on before the younger ghost simply shrugged.

"What could possibly be worth it?"

Youngblood looked down, "It's dumb."

"It can't be that dumb if you keep coming back for it" Danny stated.

Youngblood hesitated for a long moment before mumbling meekly, "I wanna go home. I don't remember where we lived, I just remember _them_."

Suddenly it made sense. He missed his family, and since he didn't know where to look for them, he went to the one place in the human world he did know.

"Yeah, it's dumb. I don't even know where to look."

Danny floated up and sat down next to him, "No. No, it's not dumb. You should've told us sooner. We can try to help you find them."

"Don't tell the others." Youngblood said, "Please?"

He quirked and eyebrow, not that it was visible behind his blacker than night mask, "They could help too, you know."

"I know, but, please don't tell them?"

After a moment Danny nodded, "Alright. I won't say anything. And I'll see what I can do to help you find your family."

Youngblood's smile could have lit up the entire world, "Thanks"

A few minutes later the sound of an engine and tires skidding to a halt came to the rooftop and the three of them turned around to see Johnny standing there, looking quite exhausted. "Oh, _here_ you are. I've been looking everywhere for you. Found some ice, a cut open net and a bunch of pissed of agents so I figured you'd gotten away. Could've at least called in though…"

* * *

The next day at school Lancer was handing back the graded tests from the day before. When Danny got his back, it wasn't all that surprising to see red marks littering the paper and a thirty six percent written at the top. There was also a little note written at the top.

 _See me after class._

Well, fuck. Now he'd have to stay and listen to Lancer chew his ear off about putting in the effort and studying, or whatever.

Pushing all those thoughts aside, Danny pulled out the book he'd picked up the night before. It was one written and published by Simmon's Ectology, a privately owned and operated ghost research company and one of the few that _didn't_ support the worldwide brainwash about all ghosts being evil and non-sentient. He hadn't met the couple that ran the business yet, but he'd heard that a bunch of ghosts had gone and talked with them to share information, so their book was probably one he could trust.

 _Studies show people tend to become ghosts after death more often in areas that have higher concentrations of pure ectoplasm in the atmosphere. The process has never yet been observed by the human eye, but from scientific evidence and information provided by those who have become ghosts, we have theorized that once the 'soul', every part of a person's mind and being, leaves the body, that if there is just the right conditions, including enough pure ectoplasm in the air, then the ectoplasm will merge with the person's mind and being, and form a new body, usually very similar to that of their old one, sometimes they may even be nearly identical._

While most of that information seemed useless in finding Youngblood's family, it did tell him that he'd probably been living in an area where there was a higher concentration of ectoplasm than usual. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Shortly after the bell rung and Lancer began calling for everyone to hand in their tests again to be put in the gradebook. Once everyone had done so and filed out of the classroom, Danny headed up to the front of the room where Lancer sat at his desk.

"Danny, yesterday during the test you seemed rather distressed." Lancer began.

"Yeah, cause it's a test."

Lancer ignored that comment and continued, "And then you turned your test in with multiple questions unanswered and rushed out of the room. I'm asking you, as a friend, is there something going on in your life that is causing you stress?"

Danny just stared at his overweight, bald teacher for a moment. He'd completely expected him to just be upset about him not trying hard enough or something, not to actually seem to kind of care. "No. There was just something really important I had to go do."

Lancer nodded, even though he didn't seem to completely accept the answer he'd given him, "Ah yes, well, I at least hope whatever it was, was worth it."

"Yeah, it was."

* * *

 **A/N: I liked writing this chapter :) Youngblood is one of my favorites, plus it's fun to imagine what a young kid like him would do while being a part of the Alliance.**

 **Also, I've got this headcannon that** _ **only**_ **Youngblood can understand Oliver (or just his bird because he doesn't actually have a name in the show). I thought it kind of made sense, especially cause I don't think any other characters talk with his bird in the show (unless I'm forgetting something).**

 **Once again, sorry these chapters have been kind of slow lately. That's just how it goes with school being back in now.**

 **Chapter 3 of TBS is up next on the updates list and after that Chapter 33 of this one just in case anyone's wondering! I'll try to get ch 3 out sometime this week :)**

 **UP NEXT:** Sam meets an interesting character at an event and the GIW are increasing the schools' ghost security systems.

 **See ya soon and please review if you've got some extra time! It helps out tons with motivation and knowing your interests as readers!**


	34. Chapter 33

Thank for the reviews and here are the replies!

 **Dragon Historian:** Lol well I suppose it is actually like peering into the mind of a teenager, I mean, I am writing this based slightly off personal experiences and am still just 16and in high school so… XD

 **Unlucky Alis:** Youngblood is a precious, innocent bean here :P and YES OMG I am so glad someone caught that reference XD I love The Incredibles so I just had to sneak that in lol. For the halfa biology thing, my personal take on it, at least for this AU is that instead of the ectoplasm merging with the person's soul and creating a separate body, something, like the ectoplasmic electricity and right conditions, causes the ectoplasm to instead merge with the already existing human body. Idk if that makes sense lol but I'll probably explain it better later XD what's your take on it?

 **WolfMistwood:** True, that's a good point with the comparison between Johnny and his shadow and Youngblood and Oliver :) That's also a good idea with Sam, I'll see if I can slip that in soon :)

 **ShinichiKudoOwnsMySoul:** Glad you like it! :)

 **KittyKatt Uzumaki:** I'm glad you're liking it so far! :)

 **Anriedl84:** Since you left so many reviews (which I am very grateful for) and I do know you on IG, I will reply to them hopefully very soon through DM :)

Thank you to everyone who has read/followed/favorited/reviewed and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 33

 **Greg**

 _Summary: Sam meets an interesting character at an event_

* * *

It was a warm, late afternoon one weekend in Amity Park, that found a certain Samantha Manson moseying about the crowd of people gathered at the park. The crowd was what Sam would refer to as a medium sized crowd in comparison to the rest of the events she'd attended, and surprisingly consisted of a wide range of ages.

They had all gathered there that day to show their support for at the very least allowing ghosts basic human rights. Ever since Director Axel had been able to push the latest addition of the anti ecto acts through the system, the one that had basically once and for all outlawed the very existence of ghosts, people had been getting a bit more displeased with the GIW. Many who had been settled near the middle with their opinions on it all had been swaying towards the pro freedom side of things. The GIW seemed to have pushed their luck just a little too far this time.

Sam continued to push through the crowd until she made it to the edge of the group. Off just a little ways from the mass of people, the forested part of the park began with long, full branches obscuring sight. She sighed and resolved to take a little break from all the drama by strolling down the little dirt trail and through the trees.

While she was walking, Sam took notice of all the small things someone else might not such as the thriving little anthill nestled between the thick roots of a tree, or the way the bark on another was peeling away almost in the shape of a flower.

She came to a small clearing just off the side of the dirt trail where one lonely bench stood surrounded by shrubs and low hanging branches. It was the perfect place for her to take a break from the chaos.

So, Sam sat there for a good ten minutes, simply enjoying the peace, something so rare in their city.

A warm breeze gently ruffled the leaves around her and blew a few strands of ebony hair in front of her face, but she hardly cared. With amethyst eyes lightly closed, she listened to birds chirping from the tree tops for a while, when suddenly a twig snapped sharply behind her followed by a low mumble. She turned quickly to see who was there and found a boy that was around her age with longish brown hair that hung over his eyes. Subconsciously she noted it made him look kind of cute.

"Sorry, I didn't expect anyone to…be here"

Her eyes widened just a tad and she quickly pushed her hair back and out of her face. The boy looked somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put a finger on where, if anywhere, she knew him from.

"Wait…you're…Sam, right?"

So she _did_ know him from somewhere, because he apparently knew her somehow.

She nodded, "Uh, yeah. Sorry, but do I know you?"

"Oh, Yeah, I- I'm Greg. We're have first hour together" he supplied.

"Oh…" Sam's mind suddenly went blank, not really knowing how to reply or what to do. There was a very awkward silence for a few seconds as the two of them both stayed there, avoiding any unnecessary eye contact. "Were you…gonna sit here?" she asked eventually.

"No, I mean- yeah- but…ah never mind. I'll just go."

"No, it's fine. I was gonna leave soon anyways." She stood up and slightly brushed her black jeans off after tucking her phone into the back pocket.

After a second she began walking back towards the little dirt trail when Greg spoke again, "You're pretty different from what most people at school say."

Sam shrugged while in her mind had little idea as to whether she should take that as a good or bad thing, "Can't judge a book by its cover."

She glanced back at Greg once more, taking in his dark grayish green eyes, "See you at school."

* * *

 **Protecting Our Students**

 _Summary: The GIW are increasing the schools' ghost security systems._

* * *

The halls of Casper High filled with noise as students filed out of classrooms, most headed towards their second hour classes. Some yelled indecipherable things down the hallway while others laughed alongside friends or walked alone.

Tucker walked down the corridor with his army green colored backpack slung over his shoulder. Next to him was his longtime best friend, Danny, although he was beginning to question that title a bit with the way things had been since school started the previous August.

The two of them continued basically on autopilot, knowing every turn and door to go through before they'd split for second hour. Tucker wanted to say something along the way, but he honestly had no idea _what_ to even say. It was like walking next to someone you'd just met, in which most people would resort to commenting on the weather. If it were the previous year, they would've gotten into some loose conversation about the newest Doomed updates or what the best new memes were. Now, Tucker had noticed Danny had hardly been playing any Doomed anymore, and whenever he tried to reference some online thing, it just fell flat. Although, it wasn't really even any of that that upset him, the most frustrating thing was that he still hadn't even a clue as to _why_.

As they pulled to a stop on the side of the hall and Tucker opened his locker, he took a brief notice of the few guys and a ladder on the other end of the hall.

"W-What are they doing here?" Danny asked from behind him.

Tucker glanced at him in confusion before realizing what he meant, "Oh yeah, you showed up late this morning. Mr. Johnson said there's gonna be some feds going around all the schools to install better security or something."

"What? Why?"

He gave a sigh and grabbed his history book, "I don't know man, you know how they are, they wanna ghost proof the entire goddamn city! Since when do you care _anyways_ about what they do?"

Danny shrugged, "I don't know…doesn't it just seem a little…excessive?"

He zipped his backpack and closed his locker, spinning the padlock to lock it closed again. "Honestly, no. We _do_ get some sort of ghost attack here like, every week _at_ _least_."

Danny didn't say much more after that and the two of them just continued on their route to second hour. Tucker noticed the odd tension as they passed by the agents, but thought little of it.

* * *

Two days later, the two of them were in the same position. Once again, it was a painfully quiet walk out of first hour, all the way to their stop at Tucker's locker.

He dialed in his combo and groaned when it refused to open the first time. Putting in the numbers again along with a good shove to the old storage space, it opened, revealing two textbooks and a lunchbox.

Down the hall, the couple of guys that had been working on the device up on the wall were back, to no surprise. He'd heard some people's gossip and had concluded it was likely some sort of upgraded detector that they were working on installing.

Tucker grabbed his history book and zipped up his back pack before he noticed Danny fiddling with something that looked like a watch on his wrist, _and no, not the wrist with the weird cut off glove he refuses to ever explain or take off_. Or at least he thought it was a watch until he noticed it was actually more like a band of sleek metal with a few tiny lights flashing on the sides of it.

"Whoa, dude, what is that?" he asked, not really noticing the panicked expression that had slipped onto his friend's face for a second.

"Uh…it's nothing, just one of my parent's things they wanted me to test out. Something about it's supposed to repel ghosts…or something like that." Danny said, trying to cover it with his hand while still poking at a couple little features on it.

"Seriously? It doesn't really look like your parent's kind of tech…"

"That's because they were just trying out some new stuff, it doesn't really matter, come on we're gonna be late for class." Danny said just a little too quickly before tugging his jacket sleeve down to cover the strange metal bracelet.

"We've still got five minutes?" Tucker asked in confusion.

"Uh…right. Well…you know…"

Shaking his head in defeat, Tucker shut his locker and threw his backpack over his shoulder again.

As they carried on their way down the hall and passed by the agents, he overheard a bit of what they were saying.

"Well, it should be working now."

"If it is, I guess there just aren't any ghosts around for it to pick up on."

Beside him, Tucker caught a glimpse of Danny with an unreadable smirk.

* * *

 **A/N: Lol, well, who here thinks they know exactly what went down in the whole second part of this chapter?**

 **This is a bit late, I have no excuses besides I let a little procrastination take hold XD. I'll be honest, I got caught up on watching Supernatural lol. I watched the first episode like a year ago and always told myself I was gonna go back to it and keep watching, but then life happened, and so here I am, after all this time, finally binging episodes XD.**

 **Aside from that, I can't wait to see what DxS extreme shippers I've triggered with the slight implications of the first part of this chapter XD**

 **Up next on the update list is going to be Ch 4 of TBS. For a little while now I'm going to just be switching off, one chapter of this, one chapter of TBS, one chapter of this, one chapter of TBS and so on.**

 **Just to remind once more, it is not necessary to read both this and TBS to understand one another, but it does help. TBS kicks off near the beginning of junior year. This story so far is going through freshman year. This story is everything that has happened** _ **before**_ **TBS. This story does not have one large sewn together plotline. TBS** _ **does**_ **have an intricate plotline.**

 **Last thing: I recently updated the Table of Contents and added about 8 new chapters to the list :)**

 **UP NEXT:** _It's getting closer to the end of the school year, and Danny realizes just how much has changed. Also, Tucker finds himself in a sticky situation, and there's no one around to help…or is there?_

 **See ya soon and please leave a review if you've got a little extra time! :D**


	35. AN: New Chapters In Progress

Sorry, this is not an actual chapter, just a quick AN.

Just wanted to share that yes, my updates to both my stories have been slowing down a bit. I also wanted to assure that no, I am not in any way abandoning either stories, they are very much in my mind.

The rest of this AN won't be too important, you don't have to read, I'm just sharing some things that have been going on recently. :)

So this week I've had lots of school projects to do, they've all gone smoothly, but it has prevented me from finding writing motivation lol. I've also been busy with some of my art projects, including two portraits of my sister's two cats that I'll be giving to her as a wedding present in less than three weeks now :) I am hoping to get at least one chapter of both ES and TBS up before relatives start arriving in town for the wedding in a couple weeks.

Aside from that, I've also been getting really into Supernatural lately lol. I had watched the first episode a while ago, then put it aside, never really finding the time to pick it back up again until last week. I'm stuck watching a couple episodes like every day now XD probably gonna finish up season 1 tonight lol.

Last thing, and if you're still reading, I'd honestly be very surprised XD So I've been figure skating as a hobby for a little over two years now, and for the past multiple months, I've been trying really hard to get a loop (one of the main figure skating jumps that I personally find to be more difficult than the others I currently know, like salchow, toe loop, waltz, half loop, half flip). I had been getting so depressed by it recently because I was just trying and trying and trying and trying, and failing and failing and failing and failing, but I was so happy last night at class when I _finally_ got it :D Of course, it's not perfect yet, but I know now that I can do it.

Anyways, I think that whole thing really taught me that people don't lie when they say that if you work for it, you can do anything. Sounds super cliché, yeah, but it's really true. Right now, doing an axel seems like the impossible. Like, hell, I can't even rotate enough for it _off_ ice yet, but I'm gonna get it eventually.

Alright, if you're STILL reading this, congratulations XD Hopefully that last bit was motivating to someone lol. I'll see y'all soon and hopefully with actual new chapters! Sorry for the delay and what was probably some false hope when you saw a new 'chapter' to these stories (posting this note under both TBS and ES)!

Have a wonderful day!


	36. Some Chapters Are Now Revised!

**Some Chapters Are Now Revised!**

Hello to anyone who is still interested in this story! first of all, I thank you for sticking with me for so long.

I know you probably hate getting deceived into thinking I've finally uploaded a new chapter, then seeing it's another one of these author's notes :/

Good news is, I now have the first 8/9 chapters (depending on how you count) completely revised! Some basically stayed the same, and some have been changed a little bit.

So, if you'd like a refresher and want to reread as I am revising these, then you can reread up to the chapter "A New Path" that is the last one i have revised as of right now (9-19-18).

Also, I have recently thought up the basis for another one of these chapters that takes place earlier than at the point I am writing for right now (After the accident but before the Alliance reveals themselves), so the options are to:

1\. Add the story as the 35th chapter but have a note before the chapter that it jumps back in time

OR

2\. Move the chapter into the right space where it would go chronologically and have to change the numbers on all the following chapters

Let me know if you think I should definitely do one way or the other!

Thanks so much for reading, and I promise I AM still working on this as well as TBS and WLLAP!


	37. Important

**Apologies, and rewrite**

Hello! Sorry about this, as in everything lol. This story is a bit of a mess and since it was started so long ago (I was a freshman then and am now a senior and starting college next month, so yeah it's been a little while XD) now, I feel like if I continue this version its going to lose continuity, and that's something I'd really hate to happen.

Because of this, I am starting a rewrite of this story. As I am writing this two chapters of it are already up. The early chapters I am just pulling from this story, revising a bit, and posting, so I am going to be getting those all up fairly quickly over the next few days, and after that I'll continue. I'm sorry about all this, I keep trying to find where I was in this and pick up, then things happen again. Hopefully I've got it this time. I feel like I do, so I'm gonna try my best to keep it on track from here out.

If you want to quit reading now I don't blame you XD it's been a bumpy ride with this story lol. However, if you do choose to keep reading as I continue through the rewrite, thank you sincerely for you patience, it is very much appreciated.

Summary:

This version of Ectoplasmic Secrets - **extended hiatus/possibly abandoned**

Taken By Storm - **extended hiatus/possibly abandoned**

What Life is Like in Amity Park - **currently on hiatus, but hoping to return and finish soon**

Ectoplasmic Secrets Rewrite - **active**


End file.
